Sinners
by EvaH2Os
Summary: While running her community outreach program, Cameron finds one of her patients, Anne Hadley, has a severely neglected daughter, Remy. Cameron takes her in.
1. Chapter 1

So, I suppose this is what happens when I procrastinate my exam on Paradise Lost by watching Carrie. So, those were my weird inspirations. Be warned this will contain some mentions of child abuse, religion, and just dark elements. It may turn to fluff but I'm aiming at a hurt/comfort kind of thing. Anyhow, not my usual stuff, be warned.

Oh, and I'm taking a lot of liberties with my timeline and back-story. Imagine the world of House pre season 4 Cameron works for him with Chase and Foreman, she also runs the community outreach clinic. Now take Remy's timeline and just push it forward like ten or so years and severely darken it. That being said…

* * *

Cameron had run the community outreach program for going on three years. In general, she loved it. It made her feel better about herself, and gave her a chance to practice medicine away from House. But still, there were those patients that made her feel sick to her stomach. With House, she saw the patient for maybe a week and then they would leave (usually) much better than how they had come in, and they could live on in her head in that state. With the community outreach, she got to know her patients. Stewart the recluse had even begun to trust her. She knew he'd probably never go outside, but he would talk to her. He was one of the patients that helped her remember why she loved doing the job so much.

Anne Hadley wasn't. Anne wasn't always a recluse, the first time Cameron met her she was a normal, albeit a very religious, women. Cameron didn't know much about her, but she knew the women smiled on occasion and had a husband. In the past three years, though, Anne had pretty much turned into a nut bag. The women had Huntington's and probably only had a few months left, if that.

"Really, if you'd come into the hospital we could make you a lot more comfortable,"

"I have responsibilities here," Anne spoke brokenly. Cameron looked around the house. Gone were the photos of Anne and her husband John, and the walls were covered in cross' and religious pictures. She'd made the mistake of asking about the photos once last year, and been kicked out of the house while Anne yelled religious quotes. She'd assumed from there that John had walked out.

"It's time to start taking care of your affairs," Cameron said delicately. She was basically telling this woman that she was going to die, and wasn't quite sure of the reaction she'd get.

"The CAG results?" The woman asked.

"Not good," Cameron said. Anne simply nodded.

"Thank you, Dr. Cameron." Anne said struggling to get up. Cameron leaned in to help her, but Anne shrugged her off. And, was that bourbon she smelled on the woman's breath? Not that she didn't have every right to drink, but it certainly wasn't helping her condition.

"You could try some of the experimental treatments or even core strengthening exercises." Cameron said, as she did every week.

"God has intended this for me, Dr. Cameron." Anne said walking towards the door. Cameron knew this was her queue to leave. She gave the woman a smile before showing herself out.

Sighing, Cameron headed back towards her car. She didn't know why she kept coming to the Hadley house. The woman never took any of her medical advice. Cameron wondered if she could force the woman into the hospital. She needed to be taken care of. The woman wouldn't be able to walk or talk in a matter of weeks.

* * *

"What did the doctor say mom?" Remy asked.

"I'm still dying," Anne muttered.

"I've been praying. I promise," Remy said backing away. She knew her mother blamed her for this, and she was starting to believe that this might actually be her fault.

"I knew I should have pulled you out of school." Anne paced as her arms flailed wildly, "Those boys are a bad influence on you."

"I don't even talk to them, mom." Remy said, beginning to tear. She knew this conversation wouldn't end well for her.

"He knows your thoughts, Remy," Anne yelled pointing to her favorite cross on the wall. She moved towards it and took it down. Remy knew she was in trouble at this point.

"I don't have impure thoughts." Remy tried, knowing that it wasn't fully true. She couldn't help what she thought sometimes. She knew deep down she hated her mother, and was mad at her dad for leaving her, and even jealous sometimes of other girls in her class, but she tried not to be. She really did try.

"Don't lie to me!" Anne screamed. She came closer to the girl and slammed the cross into the side of Remy's head, "I've been a bad mother,"

"No, you haven't," Remy said clutching the side of her head. She looked down at her hands. They were covered in blood, and she was beginning to feel dizzy. Maybe she deserved all of this.

"I'm being punished for your sins." Anne said growing calm. She took something out of her pocket. Remy caught the gleam in her palm and shuddered.

"Please, don't lock me in there. I prayed today already. And, I have homework." Remy cried.

"Get in there," Anne said pointing towards the small room at the end of the hall. Inside were bibles, candled, and a bench for praying. Remy cried silently as she walked to the end of the hallway. She entered the room and heard the click of the lock behind her. Remy sunk against the wall clutching her head. It really hurt. She didn't know if she'd be able to concentrate on her prayers.

"Please don't keep me in here too long," Remy mumbled at the door. Anne ignored the comment as she went into the garage to get the gas canisters. She knew this day would come. She was going to hell for the sins of her past and of her daughter. So, she'd bring her daughter with her.

Anne splashed the gasoline around the house, and dropped a match on the floor by the curtains. Then she sat on the couch and waited.

It was time for her judgment.

* * *

"Are you a friend of the family?"

Cameron turned around startled. It was getting late and Anne didn't live in the best neighborhood. She was also carrying about three hundred grand in medical supplies that did not belong to her.

"I run the community outreach program from the hospital," Cameron said calmly after noticing it was just a neighbor. The women even looked kind.

"What's wrong with her?" The woman shuttered. Cameron hesitated for a minute. This wasn't really her information to tell, but then again she wasn't in the hospital.

"Huntington's Chorea. She probably only has a few more good weeks" Cameron said, hoping maybe the neighbor would watch out for her. Cameron could increase her visits, but she didn't think it would do much good.

"What about Remy?" The neighbor asked.

"Who?' Cameron asked wondering if the neighbor was referring to a pet or something.

"Her daughter. Does she have it to? The poor girl looks deathly. She's my Laura's age and when I see them standing next to each other in school it's scary." The neighbor rambled.

"She has a daughter?" Cameron asked. Anne was in no way eligible to be taking care of anyone.

"Little Remy, strange girl. Pretty sickly." The neighbor described, "Shame too, she used to be so happy. Sarah and her would have play dates. My husband and John were good friends and they'd go out and bring the girls.

"What do you mean by sickly?" Cameron asked.

"God, she's tiny and skinny too. Looks like she doesn't eat or sleep. Always a mess, and she doesn't really talk. Sarah says wont speak in class anymore." The neighbor described.

"And she didn't leave with John?" Cameron asked.

"No, saw her walking home from school today. I always offer her a ride, the schools about a mile away, but she always refuses. She's polite, though." The neighbor nodded.

"And no one called Child protective services?" Cameron asked wondering how she never even knew Anne had a daughter.

"I've never seen her hit the kid?' the neighbor threw her hands up protectively, "Anne seemed like a fine parent, we were just never friends. Hey is that smoke"

Cameron's head snapped towards the house. There was definitely smoke coming from the windows.

"Call 911, request ambulances from Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital." Cameron said rushing away from the neighbor and towards the house. She fished Anne's key from her pocket and ran inside.

The smell of gasoline was everywhere.

"Mom!"

Cameron heard a scream. She didn't see Anne anywhere though. The curtains were on fire as were some of the carpet and walls. They needed to get out of the house. Cameron tried to follow the screaming, but she couldn't really see through the smoke.

"Anne?' Cameron asked seeing a figure lying down on the couch. She slapped the woman's face lightly, but Anne only opened an eye lazily.

"It's my time, Dr. Cameron," Anne mumbled.

"No, wake up Anne. This isn't the way to die." Cameron said, trying to get Anne up, "You still have a good time left."

Anne felt like dead weight and she no longer seemed to be paying attention to Cameron. Coughing, Cameron checked the woman's pulse. She was alive. Then she noticed a key on the floor by where her hand was. Cameron picked it up and followed where she thought the screams were coming from.

"Remy?" Cameron yelled. There was no response. Cameron tried a few doors before coming to one that was locked. She quickly unlocked the door and saw a small girl passed out in front of an alter. Cameron scooped the girl into her arms and ran back towards the living room. There was no way she could get Anne out of the house.

Cameron ran outside. Noticing the firefighters arriving she breathlessly told them that Anne was on the couch.

She brought the girl towards one of the ambulances and watched as the firemen went to work on the house.

The neighbor was next door on her cell phone looking horrified.

"You all right?" the medical worker asked Cameron.

"Just some smoke inhalation. She was locked in a room, I don't think much smoke got to her, but she's unconscious" Cameron said pointing towards the passed out girl.

"Let's get these two to the hospital. The other ambulance can get the mother." The medical worker called to the driver. Cameron nodded in approval and backed up as the worker shut the doors in the back of the truck.

As they sped towards the hospital, Cameron took the girl's vitals as the worker gave her oxygen.

"She's got a head laceration." Cameron called noticing blood on the stretcher by the girl's head.

"Here," the worker handed Cameron a kit for stitches. Cameron located the cut and cleaned it off before starting to stitch.

"She'll need a head MRI." Cameron mumbled.

"Were two minutes out," The driver called. Cameron nodded as she finished stitching. The ambulance stopped just as she was done.

"Smoke inhalation and head laceration. Another ambulance will be here in two." Cameron yelled as a doctor came towards the ambulance bay. The doctor nodded and took the stretcher. Cameron went to follow but a hand stopped her.

"Oh god, Cameron. Did you run into a burning house?" an Australian accent asked.

"Don't tell House," Cameron nodded letting Chase give her a hug.

"Let's get you and your bleeding heart checked out before you try to save another patient." Chase tried to joke.

Cameron nodded looking down at her sooty hands and realizing the burn in the back of her throat probably wasn't a good sign.


	2. Chapter 2

So, I don't know how much I like this chapter, but I like the next ones and its sort of just a transition. It's shorter than the others too. Anyhow, let me know what you think, and three will be up soon.

-E

* * *

"What do you think?" Cameron asked, watching House as he examined Remy's file.

"Stress fracture in the right arm, Concussion, asthma complicated by smoke inhalation, and severe malnourishment," House said. He snapped the file shut, "Now, what's your damage?"

"Minor smoke inhalation," Cameron shrugged, reaching for Remy's file.

"The mother's in a coma, severe respiratory distress caused by massive smoke inhalation, late stage Huntington's, probably wont wake up, and if she does she'll have about arson and child abuse charges to boot." House said handing Cameron the last file.

Cameron sighed, it was looking like she was too late getting Anne into the hospital. Then again, she really no longer felt sorry for the woman after reading the daughter's file.

"Has the hospital located the father?' Cameron asked.

"Hell if I know," House shrugged, tossing Cameron the last file.

"She's eleven and seventy-three pounds," Cameron read.

"She weighs almost as much as you," House nodded.

"So not funny," Cameron coughed.

"Anyhow, no mysteries here. Feel free to do my clinic hours in hopes of finding us a patient." House said as he tossed his ball in the air.

"I have a follow up," Cameron rolled her eyes. She took off towards the rooms where Anne and Remy Hadley were.

She looked in on Anne first. The woman looked almost peaceful hooked up to all of the machinery.

"Is she dead?"

Cameron turned around. It was Remy.

"No, but she's very sick. She may not wake up," Cameron said.

"Oh," Remy said staring at her mother.

"You can go in," Cameron said stepping out of the doorframe. Remy shook her head. Cameron noticed that the little girl looked afraid.

"Are you okay?" Cameron asked. Remy nodded solemnly and turned to walk away. Cameron felt like an idiot, of course the girl wasn't okay.

"I mean you're not okay, of course. But, do you want to talk?" Cameron corrected herself.

"I brought it on myself," Remy shrugged as she continued towards her room.

"You didn't set that fire." Cameron said, trying to understand what the girl was saying. Remy stopped in her tracks and turned around. She studied the older Doctor wondering how she knew so much.

"Are you Dr. Cameron?" Remy finally asked. Cameron nodded.

"You should have left us alone," Remy said, before turning back towards her room and climbing back into bed.

"What are you saying?" Cameron asked picking up Remy's chart from the back of her bed.

"It was our time," Remy mumbled. Cameron noticed a psych consult had already been scheduled.

"Did your mom tell you this?' Cameron asked studying the girl's face. Remy nodded, and looked around the room.

"Where are my clothes?" Remy asked.

"You aren't ready to leave, sweetheart," Cameron answered.

"Don't call me that." Remy said, "I can't wear this all day. My mom will kill me,"

Cameron opened her mouth to say something, but then stopped awkwardly. Her mother had already tried to kill her, and her mother would probably never be awake to talk to her again.

"We need you in that gown for treatment purposes." Cameron said. Remy stared down at her bare arms and legs.

"It's immodest." Remy sighed pulling the blanket up to her neck.

"I can get you a pair of pajamas." Cameron said opening up one of the cabinets in the room and coming out with a pair of standard blue dinosaur pajamas.

"Thanks," Remy said taking them and slipping out from under the blanket.

"Are you not hungry?' Cameron asked noticing the untouched breakfast tray.

Remy didn't answer as she quickly slipped on the pajama pants under her gown.

"You need to eat, swe-" Cameron stopped herself, "Remy"

"I don't get breakfast," Remy explained, "But lunch is okay if I've said my prayers, and dinner on special occasions."

"That was wrong of your mother, Remy." Cameron said pushing the tray towards the girl. Remy gave her a small glare.

"I'm a sinner." Remy said staring intently at Cameron.

"You haven't done anything wrong," Cameron said. Remy stared down at the IV connected to her left arm and the cast on her right arm leaving her unable to bend her elbow.

"Can you help me with this please?" Remy asked ignoring Cameron's statement.

"Yeah, of course," Cameron said coming to the other side of the bed. She took out the IV and moved to the other side of the room as the girl tried to get the pajama shirt on.

"Let me help," Cameron said after a few moment of watching Remy struggling. Cameron came back around to the front of the bed. Remy looked near tears as she pulled at the shirt. She had one arm in the shirtsleeve, but she couldn't get the other one in. Cameron noticed how she could see each of Remy's ribs as she gently lifted Remy's broken arm and pulled it through the sleeve.

"Thanks," Remy said.

"Try putting your broken arm in first," Cameron said. Remy nodded, and got back under the blanket. She stared at the food for a few moments before cautiously reaching for the orange juice on the tray.

"My mom's going to kill me," Remy said taking a sip.

"Remy, your mom is really sick." Cameron said sitting on the chair by Remy's bed. She wasn't quite sure if Remy understood what she had said earlier.

"I know," Remy nodded, "She's being punished. She's told me."

"No, Remy. It's a genetic illness. She could be the best woman in the world and it wouldn't help her condition." Cameron said, cursing at herself. She was being kind of rude, "She will never get better, but she's going to a better place soon."

"But she can still tell that I'm breaking the rules. She told me." Remy explained, "God is always watching."

"Why don't you think God wants you to have breakfast?" Cameron asked.

"I already told you. I'm a sinner," Remy mumbled.

"Nobody is perfect." Cameron said.

"But I'm the worst," Remy said tearing.

"Remy, your mom isn't around. You don't have to follow her rules." Cameron said touching the girl's arm. Remy flinched, and put down the juice.

"I'd like to be alone." She said not making eye contact with Cameron. Cameron nodded and headed for the door.

"I'll be back to see how you're doing." Cameron said closing the door behind her.

"How is she?' Cameron asked one of the nurses at the nurse's station.

"Odd," one of the nurses laughed. Cameron felt annoyed. They didn't understand how she'd lived for the past few years.

"Dr. Murphy," Cameron yelled seeing him appear across the hallway. He looked up from a file and smiled at her.

"How's Remy Hadley. You took her from the ambulance last night " Cameron asked.

"I remember," she said giving Cameron a sad look, "Concussion isn't too bad, but probably pretty painful. The stress fracture in her arm is puzzling. Do you know if her bed at home had arm restraints?" he asked. Cameron shook her head.

"I called child protective services last night, anyhow. She's severely malnourished and has some questionable bruising on her back." He finished.

"Do you know whose custody she'll get released to?' Cameron asked.

"I mean this nicely, Allison. But, don't get too attached." Dr. Murphy said with a consultative smile. Cameron took a deep breath, she couldn't help herself. She also felt terribly guilty. She was at the girl's house every week and never once even noticed that she existed.

"Allison, she needs a kind of care that you don't have time to give her." Dr. Murphy said sensing Allison's thoughts.

"Like she'll get that in the system." Allison muttered.

"She might." He shrugged, "but that's not your problem."

Allison shook her head, "It will be soon," She said, slightly ruder than she had meant. But, either way it pissed her off that doctor's only thought about patients in the scope of time that they were under their care.

Cameron headed towards the Dean of Medicine's office. She knew what she was about to do was dumb, but it felt like the right move.

"Dr. Cuddy, can I speak to you for a moment?" Cameron asked, knocking on the door. Cuddy looked up and smiled.

"Dr. Cameron, you could have taken the day off." Cuddy shook her head. Cameron shrugged.

"Have you contacted social services about Remy Hadley?" Cameron asked getting right to her point.

"About an hour ago, they're looking for emergency placement." Cuddy nodded.

"I'm a registered foster parent." Cameron said. Cuddy raised an eyebrow.

"Dr. Cameron this is a little out of your job description." Cuddy responded.

"I knew her mom." Cameron sighed. Cuddy raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't know she was being abused." Cameron quickly added.

"This isn't the type of thing you do out of guilt, Dr. Cameron." Cuddy said.

"This isn't out of guilt." Cameron said, "Do I need to get my own lawyer or can you put in a recommendation for me?"

"I had a feeling you'd ask that." Cuddy sighed as she picked up the phone.

Cameron waited patiently as Cuddy reached Child Protective Services and had a short conversation with them.

"She's yours, but they're trying to locate her father." Cuddy said.

"Thank you, Dr. Cuddy." Cameron said, getting up.

"Don't get too attached, Allison." Cuddy said, switching to first names, "and you might want to think about using some of your vacation days,"

"Consider me on vacation." Cameron said walking out.


	3. Chapter 3

WonderousPlaceForAnEcho, AmazonLife, Wake-up Soon, anniiie - Thank you for your great reviews. To answer some of your questions:

I will move through time a bit, but not immediately. Her bisexuality will come up, as well as drugs, but I'm not intending anything sexual between them.

Thank you so much. Hope you enjoy

* * *

"Why can't I go home?" Remy asked.

"There's no one there to watch you." Cameron answered.

"I watch myself," Remy answered.

"Well, there really isn't a house there anymore either." Cameron laughed nervously.

"Oh, yea. The fire." Remy sighed leaning her head against the window of the car. She was wearing the clothes she was brought in with and Cameron realized that because of the fire this was probably the only possession she still had.

"We should get you some clothes and stuff for school." Cameron said, starting to feel awkward about the situation. She really never thought about Remy in this situation. Did the girl even like her?

"I don't need anything," Remy shrugged.

"You can't go to school in the same clothes without paper or pens." Cameron argued as she pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall.

"Is all my stuff gone?" Remy asked looking at Cameron for the first time since Cameron told her she was going to come home with her.

"Yeah," Cameron answered honestly.

"Oh," Remy nodded. Cameron thanked god she didn't answer with 'I deserved that' or something. But, she was confused as to how Remy was feeling. 'Oh' didn't exactly say a lot towards how she was feeling about her situation.

Cameron parked and headed towards the office supply store. Remy followed silently as Cameron got a cart.

"Do you have a color preference?" Cameron asked standing in front of a row of backpacks.

Remy shook her head.

"Really, no preference?" Cameron smirked. Remy shook her head again.

"Fine then," Cameron smiled as she pulled down a bright red vinyl transformers backpack.

"Okay, not that one." Remy finally said.

"Then you pick." Cameron said pointing to the selection. Remy nervously took a step forward.

"Any one you want." Cameron said. Remy nodded and quickly grabbed a red messenger bag.

"That's a nice one," Cameron commented as Remy threw it into the cart.

"Better than transformers." Remy smirked. Cameron smiled. That was definitely the first smile she'd seen on Remy.

"Okay, pens, pencils, high lighters." Cameron said coming towards a display of writing utensils.

Remy grabbed a pack of pencils. Cameron also threw in a few pens and high lighters.

"Now paper and binders. Do you still use those or is it just notebooks now?" Cameron asked.

"Most people have a notebook for math and a binder for the other subjects." Remy shrugged.

"Okay, then both." Cameron said grabbing a few notebooks and binders and paper.

"That's more than I need." Remy said looking in the cart.

"Then we'll have extras." Cameron shrugged, "anything else?"

Remy shook her head. Cameron nodded and went to check out.

"So, do you have any clothing store preferences?" Cameron asked as they took the bags to the car.

Remy shrugged, "my mom would just come home with clothes for me,"

"We'll go to a department store. It's the easiest. They'll have everything from headbands to shoes." Cameron said, driving towards the mall. Remy nodded and Cameron noticed she looked almost excited.

"What kind of clothes do kids wear these days?" Cameron asked as she neared the mall.

"Anything." Remy shrugged.

"We wore leg warmers when I was in elementary school." Cameron smiled.

"I guess not anything," Remy said with a small smile.

"Jeans, skirts, dresses?" Cameron prods.

"Yeah," Remy nodded.

"So we'll get you all that." Cameron said as she parked.

"My mom never let me wear skirts." Remy said staring down at her legs.

"Well, I'm going to let you chose your own clothes. Whatever you feel comfortable in." Cameron said not really knowing how to tread over Anne's rules. While they were clearly overkill, she wasn't sure how Remy would feel about her stating that. Anne may have been borderline abusive, but she was her mother and really all the girl had.

Cameron led the way into the store and watched as Remy followed her looking overwhelmed.

"Where do you want to start?" Cameron asked. Remy stared down at her feet.

"Socks, maybe?" she shrugged. Cameron cracked a smile.

"I tell you that you can have anything you want and you want socks first?' Cameron asked. Remy nodded and gave Cameron a weak smile.

"Al right then," Cameron said heading for the escalator. Remy hurried behind her. Cameron noticed that Remy was getting closer to her as she noticed all the people around.

"That girl is in my class." Remy pointed seeing a blond girl across the store looking at boots.

"Do you want to say hi?" Cameron asked. Remy shook her head. Cameron shrugged as she headed towards the socks.

"So we've got knee highs, ankle length, ooh and holiday socks." Cameron laughed seeing a pair with Christmas ornaments on them.

"I don't know. What are the normal socks?" Remy asked touching a few of the ones in front of her.

"Well, you need white ones." Cameron said picking up a set of white socks, "then it's really up to you. Most of the time no one can see them, so they can be as weird as you want."

"Then I want these." Remy said taking a pack of rainbow-striped socks.

"How about puppies?" Cameron asked holding up a pair of animal printed socks. Remy shook her head.

"We'll get you more white ones for now," Cameron said grabbing two more packs, "then I can procrastinate laundry longer."

"Okay, socks are done." Cameron said looking around. They were also by the underwear, so that seemed like the next logical step.

"So, of course like socks, no one should be seeing your underwear so I say we go as wild as you'd like." Cameron said picking up a pair of kid's underwear with sparkling pink pigs on them. Remy's eyes widened and she shook her head.

"They won't bite." Cameron laughed.

"White is fine." Remy said. Cameron sensed her discomfort, but then again she'd be uncomfortable too shopping for underwear with a complete stranger. But, this was necessary; all of Remy's clothing was destroyed so she'd have to suck it up.

"Green sparkling frogs?' Cameron asked trying to at least make this silly.

"This one comes with a matching tank top with a built in bra," Cameron read off the label, looking at a rainbow set of underwear. She laughed.

Remy stayed silent, "when I was eleven, the selection sucked. Shopping has come a long way," Allison rambled hoping she could get the girl to talk.

"This set has stars," Cameron tried again.

"It's better than pigs," Remy finally spoke.

"Okay, so stars. Now what about hearts?" Cameron asked.

"That's enough." Remy shrugged shoving her hands into her pockets.

"You can't have one pair of underwear." Cameron said raising an eyebrow.

"Can we do this later?" Remy asked.

"Are you feeling all right?" Cameron asked. Remy nodded.

"It's getting late. We can do more shopping tomorrow." Cameron said, "but I'll just grab some random stuff so you have something to sleep in and wear tomorrow."

"Fine," Remy said wandering towards a chair by the end of the department. Cameron watched her collapse in the chair and felt bad. Remy had woken up this morning to realize her mother was dying and now Cameron was making her pick out stuff for a whole new life. No wonder she was overwhelmed.

Grabbing some more underwear and a set of pink striped pajamas and then a pair of jeans she hoped would fit Remy, Cameron headed towards the register to pay.

"Okay, we can go now." Cameron said coming back to get Remy while holding three bags of purchases.

"Thanks," Remy said, seeing the bags.

"Not a problem. Hope you don't mind what I picked out." Cameron laughed as she led the way back to her car.

On the ride back, Remy cradled her head in her hands. Cameron asked her if she was feeling okay again, but Remy just said 'fine' for what felt like the millionth time.

When they got back to Cameron's apartment, Cameron carried the bags into her guest room.

"Is this where I'm going to sleep?" Remy asked, looking around the room.

"Yeah, and the bathroom is one door over and I'm two doors over." Cameron said. Remy nodded and looked around the room. It was decorated pretty simply, but it was more than she was used to. Cameron noticed Remy staring at the lock.

"It only locks from the inside, so you're the only one who can control it." Cameron said watching Remy. Remy didn't respond.

Cameron slipped out of the room to get a glass of water and some painkillers for her. She knew, even if Remy wouldn't admit it, that the concussion had to hurt.

"Here, it will help your head." Cameron said reappearing and giving Remy the cup and pills. Remy took them quickly.

"I'm going to make dinner for us, and you're welcome to take a shower or a nap." Cameron said.

"Do you mind if I shower?" Remy asked.

"Not at all. There are extra towels under the sink, and you might find it easier to take a bath because that plaster can't get wet." Cameron suggested. Remy nodded and disappeared out of the room.

Cameron headed towards the kitchen wondering what Remy would eat. Cameron looked into her fridge, the selection wasn't huge. She tried the cupboard and found Mac and cheese and canned soup.

Mac and cheese it would be, she decided pulling out a pot and filling it with water. Cameron poured in the pasta and quickly set the table. She wondered if Remy would even eat the food. The girl said she didn't normally get dinner, but she had to be starving after their day.

The timer went off and Cameron drained the noodles before adding in milk and cheese and setting the concoction off to cool. Cameron headed towards Remy's room and knocked. The girl had to be out of the shower by now.

"Remy? You ready for dinner?' Cameron asked. There was no response. Cameron went and knocked on the bathroom door, but there was also no response. Cameron opened the bathroom door slowly, Remy wasn't in there.

Cameron went back to Remy's room.

"I'm going to come in." Cameron stated before pushing open the door. Remy was wrapped in a towel sitting next to the bed on the floor crying. Clothes were scattered on the floor in front of her and there was clearly still soap in her hair. Cameron quickly sat on the floor next to her, and put an arm around her.

"What's wrong?' Cameron asked as she rubbed Remy's arm.

"I can't do anything right." Remy sobbed.

"You just need some help." Cameron said, as she continued to rub Remy's arm. Remy buried her head in the towel.

"It's always okay to ask for help." Cameron said, feeling like she was talking to a six-year-old, "Besides, I should have offered. I know how hard it is to do things without an arm."

"It's not your fault." Remy sobbed harder.

"It's no one's fault." Cameron stated, realizing this girl had a serious issue with the idea of responsibility and blame.

"Let's get this conditioner out of your hair before it dries." Cameron said standing up. Remy didn't follow, so Cameron scooped her up once again and brought her into the bathroom. Cameron ran some bath water and went to get a cup.

When she got back, Remy was sitting in the tub hugging her knees against her chest. Cameron had to stop herself from gasping. It looked like every one of remy's bones was about to pop through her nearly translucent skin. She was also covered in bruises, some old and fading red and some blue and shockingly new.

"Okay, tilt your head back." Cameron said, trying to calm herself down. Remy did as she was told and Cameron scooped water from the cup and poured it on Remy's hair. Cameron used to do this for her nephew when she would baby-sit. She continued until it was clean, and then held up the towel for Remy to get back into.

"Remy hugged the towel around herself then headed back to her room without saying anything.

"Okay, lets get you changed. Then we can have dinner." Cameron said looking at the pile of clothing on the floor.

"How about we go for the blue stars." Cameron said holding up the underwear set. Remy shrugged. Cameron got up for a pair of scissors and cut the tags off the clothes. She realized that may have been dumb though, she had no clue if this would fit. Cameron handed Remy the underwear and then went through the pile of clothing looking for the pajama pants she had chosen. She found them and cut the tags off before handing them to Remy.

"Here, you can wear the matching tank top." Cameron said handing Remy the starred shirt.

"It should be pretty easy to put on because it doesn't have sleeves." Cameron said, as she noticed Remy just stared at the shirt. Remy looked like she was about to cry again.

"My mom always said breasts were for sluts." Remy said playing with the material of the built in bra. Cameron froze for a moment.

"They aren't really something you control." Cameron offered trying to speak scientifically rather than religiously.

"She said God gave them to sluts so boys would like them." Remy teared. Allison wondered if this was what had upset her while they were shopping. She put a hand to her forehead. She should have known better than to assume that all eleven-year-olds wore them.

"Medically," Cameron said, not really sure of what to be explaining, "They come when you reach a certain age. It all sort of comes along with puberty."

"I was starting to get them, that's why I wasn't allowed breakfast, that time was supposed to be used for praying." Remy looked down at herself, "she used to say that God knew I was thinking about boys and he was punishing me for the world to see." Cameron could see years of body image problems in this girl's future.

"She was wrong." Cameron said, sitting on the bed next to Remy, "and it's okay to think about boys. Most girls your age do."

"I don't." Remy said a little too quickly.

"Well, if you ever do that's perfectly fine and only your business." Cameron said, hoping she was making a difference.

"Thanks," Remy said softly.

"Would you rather wear something else?" Cameron asked, "I can get you a big shirt or something."

"No, it's okay. I like the stars." Remy tried to smile, but her chin quivered instead.

"Okay, well, let's get you dressed." Cameron said standing up. She helped Remy slip the shirt over her broken arm before getting it on.

"You ready for dinner?" Cameron asked.

"Can I just go to sleep?" Remy asked.

"I want you to at least eat a little bit first." Cameron said.

"But, I wasn't even good today. I cried almost four times. I was weak." Remy said.

"I think for everything that's happened today you were really strong, Remy." Cameron said, opening the door. Remy reluctantly followed and sat at the table with Cameron.


	4. Chapter 4

Cameron stared at the ceiling of her bedroom. Remy had gone to bed early ago after barely touching her dinner. Granted, it was cold after how long it took to get her ready for bed, but Cameron couldn't help but to worry. She hoped maybe Remy would eat breakfast this morning. It was almost nine, and Cameron was used to being up by seven for work. Remy was still sleeping, but she'd had a big day so Cameron decided to let her sleep in. The girl had lost her house and pretty much her mother, she could take a few days off of school.

Her machine had three missed calls. She figured they were probably all from House. She hadn't exactly told him about her vacation time. She sort of just never came back after her 'follow up.'

Cameron stared at the ceiling for a few more minutes before finally checking her messages.

_Cameron, I have clinic hours undone and mail unsorted. You can't take vacation time till I take vacation time. Ugh_

Cameron hit delete. House would leave that as a message for her.

_Cam, it's Chase. Hope you're feeling okay after last night. Give me a call. House says he needs to talk to you._

Cameron hit delete again. She wasn't sure if Chase was just being friendly or still liked her, but she didn't think now was the right time to be starting anything.

_Have you ever tasted Foreman's coffee? It blows._

Cameron couldn't help but to laugh. House needed her. She deleted the final message, and rolled onto her stomach.

Her mind went back to Remy. She felt bad for her. The poor girl had been told that she was a sinner, responsible for her mother's death, and that she was developing because God could read her mind and knew she liked boys. Cameron didn't know how Anne could have been so cruel.

Sighing, Cameron finally got out of bed. She took a quick shower and got dressed before deciding she'd make a sugary breakfast. Maybe she could entice Remy into eating with chocolate chip pancakes. Those were always her favorite when she was a kid.

Cameron peaked into Remy's room before heading for the kitchen. She was still fast asleep with the sheets bunched under her arms.

Cameron had hoped that she slept well.

By the time Cameron had finished the batter and was beginning to cook the pancakes Remy had entered the kitchen. She was still in pajamas and her hair had dried in messy waves around her face.

"I'm making chocolate chip pancakes." Cameron smiled. Remy nodded and took a seat at the table. She rubbed her head.

"I put some pills by your water glass, but you shouldn't take them until you eat a little bit." Cameron said bring a plate of three pancakes and putting it on front of Remy. She also brought syrup to the table before making her own pancakes.

When she was finished she sat down next to Remy. Remy was cutting up the pancakes and pushing them around her plate.

"I can make you something else." Cameron offered.

"No, this is fine." Remy said putting a piece into her mouth. Cameron began to eat and noticed Remy was watching her. Remy began to eat too, and Cameron wondered if her eating made Remy feel more comfortable.

Remy had finished a full pancake before taking her pills and saying she was full.

"Why don't you have some juice too?" Cameron asked.

"Full of vitamins, extra good for you." Cameron sung as she poured herself a glass. She took a few sips and watched as Remy did the same.

Cameron smiled. This had gone well.

There was a knock on the door and Remy practically ran into her arms.

"It's okay," Cameron assured the girl before going towards the door. She looked through the peephole to see Chase.

"Hey," Cameron said opening the door.

"House sent me." Chase said, not bothering with the hellos.

"Well, tell him I'm on vacation." Cameron said, not inviting him in.

"I did," Chase shrugged, "He told me to steal your coffee." Chase held up a to-go cup.

"Get him Starbucks," Cameron said, moving aside so Chase could finally come in.

"Who's this?' Chase asked seeing Remy. Allison turned around, Remy looked horrified.

"Remy this is Dr. Chase, we work together." Cameron said, but Remy wasn't listening. She had bolted from the kitchen towards her room.

"What are you doing, Alli?" Chase asked, looking curiously inside.

"It's just emergency custody." Cameron sighed.

"Just? As in temporary?" Chase asked.

"Yeah," Cameron nodded.

"Cameron, I think you're getting to involved." Chase said, trying to take her hand.

"I know she's not mine." Cameron sighed, he hated that everyone thought she was so weak. Besides, even if she was 'too involved', she didn't see a problem with it.

"Chase, I think you scared her." Cameron said looking towards her room.

"I have news for you. Can we just talk for a minute?" Chase asked.

"I'll call you later. She's my first priority now." Cameron sighed inching towards the door. Chase sighed as he left, and Cameron headed towards Remy's room.

"Remy, are you okay?" Allison knocked on the door. There was no response. Allison tried to open it, but it was locked, "Great" Allison muttered to herself.

"Remy, were you scared of Dr. Chase?" Allison asked, "I shouldn't have invited him in without telling you. I'm sorry."

"I'm not scared of him," Allison heard a shaky yell.

"Can you let me in, please?" Allison asked.

"No," Remy said.

"Please, we need to talk about what just happened." Allison said.

"No, we don't." Remy answered.

"We do, Remy. People don't just run away from others for a reason. Have you met Dr. Chase before?" Allison asked.

"No, he just looks like someone I used to know." Remy said, finally letting Cameron into the room.

Cameron looked around. She knew something had to be wrong. Then she noticed the blood coming from Remy's arm.

"What happened?' Cameron asked pushing Remy towards the bathroom.

"I needed to be punished." Remy answered. Cameron spotted the pair of scissors on the bookcase. She inwardly groaned. Had Remy actually stabbed herself at the sight of Chase.

Allison lifted Remy up onto the bathroom counter and pushed a washcloth to her bleeding arm.

"It's probably going to need stitches." Cameron said peaking under the cloth. Remy didn't say anything. She wasn't even whimpering in pain.

"This will hurt." Cameron said as she began searching in the cabinets for a suture kit. She found it and put it on the counter along with some antiseptic.

"Remy, It's not your job to punish yourself." Cameron said trying to stay calm. Remy still wouldn't say anything, but she held still as Cameron dabbed antiseptic onto her arm.

Taking the needle, Cameron watched Remy bite her lip.

"I'm sorry it hurts, but I don't have anything to numb you with here." Cameron said. Remy didn't say anything once again, but tears came to her eyes as Cameron stitched up the cut.

Cameron put a large bandage over it, and helped Remy get off the counter.

"One stitched arm, one broken one. Remy you have to be careful with the healthy body parts you have left." Cameron tried to joke. Remy walked back to her room.

"Remy, you cant just tune me out." Cameron said sounding mildly annoyed. Remy stopped and looked back at her. Remy looked like she was doing everything in her power not to cry.

"Was the man Dr. Chase reminded you of someone who used to hurt you?" Cameron asked, heading into Remy's room.

Remy followed but she wouldn't respond. She poked curiously at her arm.

"Who was he?" Cameron asked, with a little bit more force.

"He was a test. He was there to test my faith." Remy asserted. She went back towards the bed and lay down on her stomach. Cameron wasn't sure how to take that answer, but she was sure that didn't mean good things

"I understand the notion of testing, and how you may believe that bad things are tests from God. But," Cameron paused, "some things are just bad people abusing their power and it doesn't mean you deserved any of it."

"I did," Remy brought her knees up to her chest and curled into the fetal position. Allison sat by her and rubbed her back slowly.

"Can you tell me what he did?" Cameron asked. Remy shook her head.

"It was between me and God," Remy said.

"Did your mom know?" Cameron asked. Remy nodded.

"Both of us were being tested. We had both sinned and we deserved what we got. But he left and I went on a ten day fast, and repented." Remy slowly explained, "It was long time ago. I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Okay, we don't need to talk about it right now, but if anyone is ever hurting you, I want you to tell me. Okay?" Cameron asked.

Remy didn't respond.

"I need you to say okay," Cameron pushed.

"Fine," Remy answered.

"Did you ever go to church or religious school?" Cameron asked, changing the subject.

"No," Remy sighed, "I had my own prayer room."

Cameron cringed knowing she meant the tiny room that she had found her in not long ago. Cameron wondered if she should be encouraging Remy's belief in God or trying to move her over to a more scientific way of looking at things. She understood a person could believe in both, but Cameron had always been an atheist.

"Do you think maybe you'd like to go to Sunday school? You could learn about God with other kids your age." Cameron asked remembering how she was sent as a kid. She personally hated it, but she could see it helping Remy, and maybe it would help her make some friends.

"I don't know." Remy yawned.

"We could sign you up, and if you don't like you I wont make you go again." Cameron said. Besides, if the girl wanted to keep practicing any sort of religion she wouldn't get any help in her house.

"Yeah, okay." Remy almost whispered.

"I'll leave you alone. There are some books on that cabinet that you may like or feel free to come out and watch TV." Cameron said getting up off the bed.

"Thanks," Remy murmured. Cameron draped a blanket over Remy, and left her room. She considered calling Chase. He said he had news, but she had a feeling his news might be something dumb or some sort of House update that he figured she'd be into knowing.

Cameron stared at the phone. But what if it was important? She took a deep breath as she called his number.

"Hey Chase. Sorry I kicked you out, but its just not a good time." Cameron said all at once.

"It's okay. I'm around if you need anything, you know?' Chase said calmly.

"Thanks, but I was wondering what you were trying to tell me earlier?" Cameron said.

"The woman you brought in last night. She's coded twice. We have her on a respirator, but she's brain dead." Chase said, "Cuddy said you'd want to know."

"Oh god," Cameron gulped.

"She a friend?" Chase asked sounding concerned.

"No. Sorry, I have to go again." Cameron said hanging up on Chase. Cameron put down the phone and sat still for a moment. This was bad. Would Remy want to see her mom one last time before she died?

Cameron sighed nervously as she headed back to Remy's room. She knocked, and Remy promptly answered.

"Remy," Cameron said.

"Yeah?' Remy asked.

"Your mom isn't doing well." Cameron said.

"I know," Remy nodded, not looking especially phased.

"Would you like to say good bye?" Cameron asked awkwardly. Remy just looked at Cameron for a minute before her face crumpled and she began to sob. Cameron pulled Remy into a hug before the girl had a chance to run the other direction. Remy surprisingly didn't fight back as Cameron stroked her hair.

"Do you want me to take you to her?" Cameron asked.

"Yeah," Remy said through tears.

"Let's get you dressed first, okay?" Cameron said. Remy nodded as she pulled away from Cameron's embrace. She wiped her eyes on her forearm and sniffled a bit.

"Here, I hope these fit." Cameron said finding the pair of jeans she picked out yesterday. Remy slipped them on quickly, and Cameron noticed they were only slightly big; hopefully she'd put on some weight and grow into them soon.

Remy found a zip up sweatshirt on the floor and got it on easily over the tank top she had slept in.

"Let's go," Remy sniffled. Cameron nodded and led the way outside.


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, so this chapter is short and kind of blaaah, but it needed to be done. I just feel like I cant extend it, so anyhow, the next one will be up faster, sorry. Thanks for all your great reviews. They make me smile.

* * *

Cameron stood in the hallway watching Remy through the glass doors. The girl so far had just stared at her mother for about five or six minutes. Cameron wondered if she should go in, but she figured this was private.

"Good morning mommy dearest,"

Cameron turned around sharply.

"Oh, god, it's you." She said, startled. Then again who else would greet her like that.

"Nice to see you too," House smirked.

"House, I'm on vacation." Cameron said, peeking behind her into Anne's room. Remy still wasn't saying anything.

"I know, Cuddy has informed me of your newest job." House said, sounding oddly jovial.

"Here to congratulate me?" Cameron asked skeptically.

"I got you a gift." House said, handing Cameron a book.

"The Idiot's Guide to Raising a Preteen," Cameron read off the title.

"Chapter four is my favorite," House nodded. Cameron flipped through the table of contents.

"The emotional rollercoaster?" Cameron raised an eyebrow.

"Apparently temper tantrums are for more than just three year olds." House smiled.

"Did you steal this from pediatrics?' Cameron asked.

"Possibly," House said, looking around, "Do I get to meet her?"

"No, she's not even mine, House. Return the book." Cameron said, handing it back. House wouldn't take it.

"She's like a lost kitten you've gotten your hands on. You're not going to drop her back off at the pound. Keep the book. Peds wont miss it." House said. Cameron peeked back at Remy again.

"You can come to her high school graduation in that case." Cameron said.

"When are you coming back to work?" House asked changing the subject.

"No idea." Cameron shrugged.

"I'm not taking a case until my team has been restored." House said, "-bring the brat if you have to." With that House walked away. Cameron shook her head and went back to watching Remy.

Finally, Remy leaned down and whispered something into her mother's ear, before turning around and leaving the room.

"I'm ready," Remy declared angrily. Cameron was confused by her tone and her thoughts drifted momentarily to 'the emotional rollercoaster', but she simply nodded before taking Remy by the hand and heading back towards the parking lot.

The drive home was spent the exact opposite of how the ride there was. Remy was completely silent, but looked like she wanted to hit someone. The drive over she was sniffling uncontrollably as she had tried to stop crying.

Cameron figured she should say something, but she was at a complete loss for words.

"What's going to happen to her?" Remy finally asked.

"I'm sure there will be a funeral and-" Cameron started.

"That's not what I meant." Remy interrupted.

"What do you mean?" Cameron asked.

"To her body, it's not dead yet." Remy asked.

"Well, the oxygen is what's keeping her alive, but her body isn't breathing on its own." Cameron said, looking at Remy to make sure she could handle what Cameron was about to explain, "So, they're going to turn off the machine that's helping her to breathe."

"Then she'll just shut down?" Remy asked.

"Without air she cant live for very long, but you have to know she won't feel anything. She's already in a better place." Cameron said.

"And what's going to happen to me?' Remy asked.

"Social Services are trying to find your dad." Cameron said.

"If they can't find him?" Remy asks.

"Then your Grandparents," Cameron said.

"They're all dead except one, and he doesn't talk to us." Remy muttered, "She left me with no one."

"He might come around." Cameron said.

"And if not?" Remy asked.

"Then you'll be with foster families until you're adopted." Cameron said, trying not to add 'like me'.

"And if I'm not adopted?" Remy asked.

"Then you stay in the foster care system until you're old enough to be on your own." Cameron said, feeling terrible.

"I'm almost twelve." Remy shrugged.

"At eighteen you're legally responsible or yourself." Cameron said, "I think they're going to be able to find our father."

Remy shrugged. Cameron pulled up to her house, and wondered what else to say.

"What happens if she breathes on her own? Will she wake up?" Remy asked, going back to her first subject.

"It's a possibility that she'll breathe on her own, but she'll never be able to wake up." Cameron answered.

"You know a lot." Remy said.

"Ten years of higher education helped." Cameron smiled.

"I've still got seven years before I hit higher education," Remy groaned.

"God, I feel old," Cameron laughed.

"Sorry," Remy responded.

"Not your fault," Cameron said, giving her a smile.

"Can I go back to school tomorrow?" Remy asked.

"You sure you're ready?" Cameron asked. It seemed pretty soon to her, Remy had only missed two days so far, and her mother wasn't even buried yet.

"Yeah, I've got a science project coming up, and the state fitness testing in gym is starting soon." Remy said.

"And you want to be back for that?" Cameron laughed.

"I want to pass out of seventh grade eventually," Remy replied.

"A week off wont put you back a year," Cameron said.

"I'm sure you want to get back to work." Remy shrugged. Cameron almost burst out laughing. Remy gave her an odd look.

"I want you to meet my boss," Cameron shook her head, "when you're older and less impressionable," Cameron added.

"I'm not impressionable." Remy crossed her arms.

"Of course not, sorry." Cameron replied sarcastically.

"So, can I go to school tomorrow?" Remy asked.

"If you really want to," Cameron shrugged, "You don't have any clothes though."

"I don't care. I'll wear this again." Remy shrugged.

"I'll pick you up some stuff while you're at school, I guess." Cameron offered.

"Thanks," Remy said, "No ugly transformers shirts, please."

"I suppose I could manage that." Cameron joked. Remy gave her a look before noticing the book on the back seat and grabbing it.

"A gag gift from my boss." Cameron explained quickly.

"The one I can't meet?" Remy asked.

"Precisely," Cameron nodded as Remy began to flip through the book.

"You can't read my secrets," Cameron laughed trying to grab the book. Remy turned so Cameron couldn't get it.

"Huh," Remy said finally handing it over.

"Informative?" Cameron asked.

"Not especially," Remy sighed, sinking back into the seat silently.


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry, I know my chapters are a tad short, but I just keep finding logical places to end. It felt to weird to lump this and the last chap together. But I hope you're still enjoying it

-E

* * *

"You ready?" Cameron asked, exiting her room to see Remy sitting on the couch flipping through a book.

Remy nodded, and walked over to Cameron.

"Let me zip you up." Cameron said, as Remy turned around. She was getting better at getting herself dressed, but she still couldn't do a lot of things. Remy had been back in school for a few days, and to Cameron it seemed like she was doing a bit better. She still wasn't really eating normally or talking all that much, but she no longer broke into crying fits twice a day.

"Okay, lets go." Cameron said, grabbing her keys. Today was Anne's funeral, and Remy had yet to say a word.

"You don't have to go to school tomorrow if you aren't ready," Cameron said to Remy. Remy didn't respond. She simply got into the car, and stared down at the hem of her new black dress.

"You can talk to me if you want." Cameron sighed, "about anything."

"I'm sorry," Remy mumbled, still not looking directly at Cameron, "I just don't know what to say."

"Well, that's a start." Cameron shrugged. He rest of the car ride was spent in silence. They got to the funeral home quickly and walked into a fairly empty room. Anne's turn out wasn't embarrassing, but the room was by no means packed. Most of the guests didn't bat an eye at Remy.

"Dr. Cameron," Someone approached them. Remy wandered from Cameron's side to look at the casket.

"Hi," Cameron turned around. It was Remy's social worker. They had spoke on the phone and she'd seen her once over the past few days, but she hadn't been expecting her here.

"Checking up on us?" Cameron asked.

"I have good news," the social worker smiled lightly.

"You found her father?" Cameron asked, surprised by the twinge of disappointment in her own voice.

"Well, yes, but that's not my good news," she sighed, "He has no interest in custody. We did find Anne's last boyfriend. He says they were engaged."

"Oh?" Cameron asked, surprised.

"Yeah, Maxwell Green," she continued, "he's interested in custody of Remy."

"Where was he the past week?" Cameron asked skeptically.

"He and Anne had a falling out a few months ago, but he's always thought of Remy as family. Look, he's found her." The social worker pointed to Remy across the room.

Cameron couldn't see his face, but a tall blonde man had his arm around Remy. Remy was standing completely still, not saying a word. The man leaned in for a hug making his face viewable for Cameron. Cameron also noticed that the hug lasted a little too long in her opinion.

"He's so charming," the social worker gushed. Cameron couldn't take her eyes off of him. There was something very familiar about him.

He looked like Chase. Fuck.

"She can't be with him," Cameron said before abruptly leaving their conversation. Cameron marched over to Remy and Maxwell. Cameron put an arm around Remy, and she clung onto Cameron.

"You must be Dr. Cameron," Maxwell extended an arm. Cameron noticed Remy's grasp on her tighten.

"Maxwell," Cameron said, shaking his hand.

"I've told Remy that she'll be coming home with me." Maxwell smiled.

"Perhaps this is something we shouldn't discuss in front of Remy." The social worker said, approaching. Remy wouldn't budge from Cameron's side though.

"Can you give us a minute, Rem? I promise I wont let you go home with him." Cameron whispered into the girl's ear. Remy let go slowly and walked away. Cameron noticed tears in her eyes. She looked scared to death.

"Dr. Cameron here has as much of a legal right to Remy as you do." The social worker explained.

"We were engaged," Maxwell glared at her.

"Not the same as married, and she's scared to death of you. I don't know what you did to her, but I'm keeping her away from you." Cameron glared.

"Are you saying you want to file for custody, Dr. Cameron?" The social worker asked.

"Yes," Cameron surprised herself. Maxwell looked furious.

"I'll fight you," Maxwell answered.

"You may have scared her, but she'll talk eventually." Cameron hissed.

"Are you making allegations?" Maxwell smirked.

"Yes," Cameron responded.

"Perhaps, we should take this outside." The social worker said touching both of their arms. Cameron thought she was proposing a fight for a moment before realizing the service was starting.

She nodded quietly and left the room behind Maxwell and the social worker.

"Why don't we let Remy decide?" Cameron proposed.

"The poor girl doesn't know what she wants." Maxwell crossed his arms.

"If you were part of her family why didn't you notice she was being abused?" Cameron suddenly asked.

"She wasn't being abused." Maxwell responded.

"Look at her. She's pale, underweight, and coated in bruises and scars." Cameron said furiously.

"I left almost a year ago, Dr. Cameron." Maxwell responded dryly.

"For tonight I'm going to recommend that Remy goes home with Dr. Cameron, Max." the social worker said.

"You'll hear from my lawyers." Maxwell groaned before turning to leave.

"Not even going to stay for the funeral of your former fiancé?" Cameron asked his retreating figure. He stopped for a moment before proceeding to leave.

"Cameron, you'll need to get Remy to tell you why she doesn't want to be in his custody if you intend on filing." The social worker said touching her arm.

"I'll try," Cameron shrugged before heading inside. Cameron slipped in the back for the remainder of the ceremony. When it was over he watched people file out before seeing Remy in the center of the room looking confused.

"I wont go home with him." She said staring at Cameron.

"You don't have to." Cameron said trying to take Remy's hand. Remy brought her hands up to her face and rubbed her eyes. She was crying within moments, and sobbing seconds later. Cameron ushered her over to a seat and sat next to her.

"Can you tell me what he did to you?" Cameron asked. Remy shook her head.

"Remy, I need to know why you don't want to go home with him?" Cameron said taking Remy's arms and getting eye contact.

"H-he used to," Remy said between sobs, "he would make me take ice baths when I was bad," Remy tried to explain, but then she kept sobbing. Cameron rubbed her back.

"I would come home from school and he'd say I was dirty, and I tried so hard to keep clean, and he'd yell," she sobbed, "and I'd have to have ice baths as punishment and he'd watch to make sure I didn't get out early."

Cameron shuddered.

"-and then he'd make me stay cold when I did my chores. He said I didn't deserve the warmth of love." She kept crying.

"What do you mean stay cold?" Cameron asked.

"I'd have to get out of the bath and I didn't get a towel or clothes before I finished my work." Remy cried, "and it was too cold and I couldn't do everything fast enough so he'd spank me. Then my mom came home once and she said I was coming on to him, and I didn't know what that meant and I said no, but she didn't believe me. She said I was trying to take him from her."

"Oh, Remy," Cameron said trying not to tear.

"That's when she said I was being slut, and she made him leave. I ruined everything."

"None of that was your fault." Cameron said, still rubbing Remy's back.

"They were going to get married, but I ruined everything. I couldn't stay clean, and if I could have he wouldn't have had to punish me and then I wouldn't have been a slut and then we could have been a family." Remy sobbed.

"Remy, what he did was wrong." Cameron said making Remy look at her. She hoped Remy understood.

"Some men like young girl in a way that they shouldn't, and he was abusing you. You deserve all the love in the world." Cameron said hugging her.

"He did love me. He said he was doing it from love." Remy said.

"Remy, he enjoyed seeing you naked, and it was unfair of him to make you do that stuff. Your mom knew what he was doing was wrong. That's why she made him leave. But she was wrong in saying it was your fault. It was never your fault." Cameron said, wondering if she was being too blunt. Remy began crying harder, but she pulled away from the hug.

Remy glanced over at her mother's open casket.

"I want to get out of here." Remy cried before clinging back to Cameron. Cameron picked her up and carried her out and back to her car. Cameron wondered how long it would be until Remy was too big to be carried. For health's sake she hoped it was soon, but she could tell Remy enjoyed the comfort of being held and she enjoyed the feeling of being needed by someone.

"I don't want to live with him," Remy cried, "and I hate her."

"You will never have to live with him," Cameron said, addressing the first part of Remy's statement.

"How do you know?' Remy cried as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"How would you feel about living with me?" Cameron asked.

"I do," Remy mumbled.

"I mean forever." Cameron asked.

"Forever?" Remy asked.

"Well, until you go to college or move out or whatever you want." Cameron shrugged.

"I would like that." Remy said still crying.

"Me too," Cameron said as she headed back to her place. She wondered if she should address the 'I hate her comment', but she knew it was normal to feel angered by death. Or better yet, maybe Remy was realizing that some of the things her mother did were wrong.


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you all for your amazing reviews.

Let me know if you have questions or suggestion.

-E

* * *

Cameron rubbed her eyes. It had been a _long_ morning, and Remy wasn't even awake yet. Cameron had already been in contact with House, her lawyer, and social services. Cameron had told Remy's social worker what she knew about Maxwell, and she had said that they would do a random home visit to see if he lived in an environment suitable for a child along with an extensive background check. She also said that Cameron could call the police, but Cameron didn't think Remy would testify so she decided to see if social services could deal with him first.

Now, it was nearing nine am, and Cameron guessed that Remy had no intention of going to school today. If Cameron thought she had had a long last few hours, she knew they were nothing in comparison to Remy's.

Cameron had woken up around two am to hear Remy sobbing. She'd sat with her until she fell asleep because she didn't know what else to do. Remy had been exhausted and of course devastated.

Cameron figured that maybe today could be a fun girl's day inn. That's why she had called House bright and early at home to warn him that she wouldn't be in to work, so he should get up early because he might actually have to do shit himself today. He grumbled something about still getting his Cam-Coffee and hung up on her.

She figured he'd be calling again within the hour when he finally arrived at work and realized she wasn't there.

"I'm not going to school today," Remy said, making her presence known. Cameron turned around to see her sit down on the couch and cross her arms.

"I'm not making you," Cameron said, heading over to her. Remy was wearing a black sweatshirt with the hood pulled up as she stared at her nails frowning. Cameron suppressed the urge to laugh. She looked incredibly grumpy and way too cute for words.

"You want something for breakfast?" Cameron asked.

"I'm not hungry," Remy mumbled, still not looking up from her hands. Cameron frowned, Remy had every reason in the world to be in a terrible mood, but she really hadn't been until now. It was puzzling.

"You have to eat." Cameron said, taking a seat on the couch next to Remy.

"Later," Remy groaned, standing up.

"Where are you going?' Cameron asked.

"Back to sleep," Remy mumbled. Cameron let out a laugh when she had shut her door. She supposed girl's day could wait a few hours.

Cameron headed back for the kitchen figuring she could make herself breakfast, but the phone stopped her.

"Hello," she answered, she pretty much knew it was House on the other end of the line.

"I'm missing the prettiest member of my team." House said.

"Isn't that Chase?' Cameron asked.

"He's no good in the kitchen, and by that I mean the coffee maker." House snarled.

"Don't worry. I'll run out of vacation days soon." Cameron smiled.

"What's the brat got that makes her more fun to hang out with than me?" House whined.

Cameron considered responding with 'feelings', but she stopped herself, "she needs me, House."

"I NEED you, woman." He yelled back, "Pretty boy and the black one are no fun to stare at."

"Go stalk Cuddy," Cameron said, wondering why she hadn't just hung up yet.

"I'm coming to get you tomorrow if you take another day off. Hey, maybe I'll come over for breakfast now. You know kids love me." House said.

"Go save a life." Cameron mumbled.

"You know, I thought about killing a patient everyday you didn't come in, but Cuddy didn't seem to like that." House replied.

"I'm hanging up now," Cameron said.

"Wait, I have at least three mommy jokes in me." House yelled.

"Save them," Cameron hung up.

She proceeded into the kitchen and decided she'd make herself eggs. She got out what she needed and started to cook. Finishing up, she noticed the presence of a familiar hooded figure.

"I thought you weren't hungry." Cameron smiled as Remy took a seat at the table.

"I am now," Remy replied, laying her head down in her arms. Cameron cracked two more eggs over the pan.

"You feeling okay?" she asked.

"Tired," Remy mumbled back.

"Does your arm hurt?" Cameron asked.

"No," Remy replied.

"Head?" Cameron asked.

"I'm fine," Remy groaned.

"Well, eat up." Cameron said bringing two plates to the table. Then she brought over some juice.

"Remy, I'm going to have to go into work tomorrow." Cameron decided to bring up her schedule.

Remy nodded looking up from her plate for a moment.

"Do you think you're going to want to go back to school because you can come with me or stay here if you feel safe," Cameron said. She felt pretty guilty though. Remy had only just buried her mom, but she had seemed eager to go to school earlier.

Cameron wondered if her schedule would be a problem. Maybe she was being selfish in trying to adopt Remy. She by no means wanted her with Maxwell, but there were probably other families that could give her a stay at home parent and siblings or even a dog. But, up until today, Remy had seemed to be pretty happy staying with Cameron.

"I can go back." Remy nodded, "Besides, I don't think I can get any further behind in science."

"If you need any homework help, I'm pretty good with science," Cameron smiled.

"Maybe," Remy nodded, "My mom used to yell at me when I asked about science."

"A lot of people have trouble justifying science against religion." Cameron nodded.

"She had me pulled out of science in elementary school, but the middle school wouldn't allow that. The science makes more sense anyhow," Remy said, sounding fairly angry.

"Does it?" Cameron asked, not expecting her answer. She was also wondering what Anne did to hinder her education.

"Why would god be kind enough to make us then let terrible things happed." Remy shrugged.

"A lot of people believe pieces of both." Cameron said.

"I don't know what I believe anymore." Remy shrugged.

"That's perfectly okay," Cameron said, "and normal" she added. Remy shrugged.

"Did your mom pull you from any other classes?" Cameron asked.

"I have asthma so I used to get to sit out, but the middle school made her just get me an inhaler." Remy shrugged.

"You didn't have one before?" Cameron asked.

"She never believed in modern medicine." Remy said. That was probably why she refused any Huntington's treatments, Cameron thought but resisted voicing.

"You have it with you right?" Cameron asked, glad she knew Remy had asthma.

"It was in the fire." Remy said.

"You should have told me. You need to keep that with you always. I'll get you a new one tomorrow at work." Cameron said, realizing it was a pretty dumb move not to have one around.

"She wouldn't sign my sex Ed permission slips or let me go to any of the museums last year, but we'll do that all again this year." Remy added.

"I can sign the next ones," Cameron said, slightly annoyed. No wonder Remy thought puberty was a punishment from God.

Cameron also wondered if Remy knew her mom's disease was genetic. She knew that Remy needed to know, but she figured it could wait, possibly, even years. There was no reason to tell an eleven-year-old that they could have half a normal life span. Especially one who had just watched her mother die an excruciatingly slow and twisted death.

"Is there anything you'd like to do today?" Cameron asked, trying to bring the conversation up to something slightly happier.

"No," Remy shook her head.

"We could do some more shopping, see a movie, you could get your nails done." Cameron suggested.

"No more shopping." Remy mumbled.

"You want to just let me keep picking out all of your clothes?" Cameron asked. Remy nodded.

"We could watch a movie on demand." Cameron said.

"What's that?" Remy asked.

"A list of movies we can pick without leaving the house." Cameron smiled.

"Can I stay in my pajamas all day?" Remy asked, peaking out from under her hood.

"I don't know about all day, but for now." Cameron responded.


	8. Chapter 8

Okay, so a little warning. Chapter ten will be a jump two years in the future. Remy will be thirteen. I'll also be doing things a little more from Remy's side in the next segment then from Cameron's POV like I'm doing now. Hope this sounds okay.

And here's my next chapter.

* * *

"Am I a bad person?" Remy asked.

"What are you talking about?" Cameron asked back.

"Am I a bad person?" Remy asked again.

"Of course not. You're a great girl, Remy. Why are you asking?" Cameron said.

"I told her I hated her." Remy mumbled, but Cameron heard.

"Who?" Cameron asked.

"My mom," Remy mumbled again.

"A lot of the time we say things we don't mean when we're upset, and I'm sure she knew that." Cameron said, wondering if that was what Remy had whispered into her mother's ear the other day.

"I really did hate her," Remy frowned, "I loved her too, but I don't know if she was a good person."

"Remy, your mom's disease did things to her brain. She was really sick and I'm sure she never meant to be as hard on you as she was." Cameron tried to explain. There was so much more she could say, but she didn't know where to begin or end. She could tell Remy that Huntington's literally kills of brain cells, or that her mom may have been a bad person, or that like the brain, issues of morality have a lot of grey area. But, none of it would make Remy feel better.

"Do you think she knows I hated her?" Remy asked.

"I think she knows that part of you will always love her." Cameron answered, trying to choose her words carefully. She knew Remy wasn't a baby, but she was still very much a child. She was smart and had lived a hard life for a preteen, but that didn't mean that all sheltering should be thrown to the wind.

"Thanks," Remy said, swinging her bag around her shoulder and getting out of the car.

"Have a good day," Cameron called. Remy gave her a light smile before walking off into the school. Cameron sighed, and headed to work.

She knew the 'bring big issues up in the car' game. She used to do it herself as a kid. It gave a necessary conversation a strict time limit. Since Remy brought up the question just minutes before arriving at school, that meant she didn't really want to have a huge talk on the subject, but it was important enough for her to voice it.

Cameron felt bad about Remy's guilt, but she was trying to answer Remy's questions both honestly and nicely. The girl had a lot of questions that couldn't really be answered definitively, but according to House's book, which Cameron has surprisingly found very helpful, that was completely normal.

Cameron was thankful to be going back to word. She figured he could use the distraction; taking care of a child was stressful. And, she knew House was the last person she had to choose her words around.

"Look, who finally graced us with her presence." House smirked as Cameron entered the office.

"Look who wore a tie today. What's the occasion?' Cameron asked, going over to the coffee maker.

"Cuddy dropped it off along with the file." House smiled as he watched Cameron make coffee.

"Donor?" Cameron asked.

"With the sniffles," Foreman rolled his eyes.

"You made me come in to take care of a guy with a cold?" Cameron asked, going to take a look at the file.

"He's old. Eighty-five-year-olds with respiratory problems die of colds." House said.

"Cuddy's words," Chase piped in not looking up from his crossword puzzle.

"I called you in because we've got a lot of catching up to do, mommy Cameron." House said, coming over to watch the timer on the coffee maker.

"I'm filing for adoption." Cameron said, putting her news out there.

"Congratulations," Foreman answered, sounding surprisingly uninterested.

"Yeah," Chase choked out. He looked shocked.

"If you needed someone to share training bras with, I could have given up Wilson for a few days. You didn't have to go steal a child," House said.

"You know me so well," Cameron said, pouring two cups of coffee and handing one to House.

"You weren't exactly the thousand piece puzzle." House shrugged.

"You think you've figured me out?' Cameron asked.

"Years ago," House sighed, "I'm getting bored of this conversation. None of you have said anything that I can segway my final mommy jokes into."

"Sorry," Foreman shrugged.

"Go do my clinic hours," House sighed.

"Have fun with your porn." Chase mumbled. House turned around.

"I will. Why thank you, Robert. That may have been the nicest thing you've ever said to me." He smiled, before heading into his own office.

Cameron rolled her eyes before deciding she'd go do her own clinic hours. Foreman and Chase could handle the patient, who was really just wasting their time, but she supposed money spoke loudly.

Signing into the clinic, Cameron picked up a file. Twelve-year-old male with a cold, lovely.

"Hi, Timothy. I'm Dr. Cameron," she said entering the room. The boy wore an expression similar to one she'd seen on Remy when the girl was nervous.

"Hi," he said meekly.

"Is your mom around?" Cameron asked.

"I told her I could do this alone. She signed all the forms outside." He said.

"Okay, well tell me what feels weird about your cold." Cameron said, getting her stethoscope out of her pocket.

"It burns when I pee." He said quickly.

"No cold?" Cameron asked. He shook his head.

"Would you prefer a male Doctor?" Cameron asked.

"Yeah, but my mom's waiting outside and if she sees more than one Doctor coming in she'll get worried." He muttered nervously.

"Are you sexually active?" Cameron asked. The boy nodded his head slowly.

"Is there a rash or any bumps?" Cameron asked. He nodded.

"I'm going to need to take a look," Cameron said, going to get gloves. The boy awkwardly unzipped his pants.

"It's possible you have a sexually transmitted infection or it could just be that you were a little," Cameron gulped, "ruff" she shrugged not knowing a better word.

"Okay," He said.

"I'll need to swab and take some blood, but you'll know within the hour." Cameron said, letting him get redressed.

"Can you not say anything to my mom until I know I have to." He asked. Cameron nodded. She wasn't really sure what to do though. Technically, she had to tell the mother what was wrong with the boy, but if it wasn't an STI she didn't have to tell the mother that her preteen son was having sex.

Still, Cameron would be want to know if Remy suddenly started having sex at the age of twelve. She was horrified.

A few lab tests later, the boy was STI free. Cameron went back down to give him the news.

"Yeah?" He asked, sitting up straight.

"Before I tell you, there are a few things you need to know about sex, and its not my place to say very much about it. But, if you think you're ready for sex, emotionally and physically, you need to have protected sex." Cameron said. The boy nodded and gulped. He looked like he was about to cry.

"I'm never doing it again," he mumbled. Cameron couldn't help but smirk.

"You're clean, you probably just over scared and it's normal to feel discomfort after a new experience." Cameron said.

"Oh thank god," He said, rubbing his palms against his jeans. Cameron pulled a few condoms out of the drawer and offered them to him.

"I'm not doing that again." He said starting to teas and refusing taking them.

"Just in case." Cameron said, still holding them, "For the future."

"Fine," he mumbled taking one. He wiped his eyes before getting up to leave.

"Go back to school," Cameron said motioning him to the door. She watched him find his mom and start to talk to her. Her face went pale a moment later, and Cameron smiled hoping he'd told her. Then she began to laugh and Cameron knew that he had in fact not. She sighed, and pressed a hand to her temples. She felt like she might just have a migraine.

She went to grab another case, but this time she made sure to get an adult. Any more kid trauma or drama and her head might explode.


	9. Chapter 9

Cameron pulled up to Remy's school to get her. She felt so weird waiting in a line of cars with all the other mothers. She felt like she had gone from zero to mom in twenty-five seconds.

Cameron looked around for Remy. She spotted her sitting with a boy on the steps outside the school. Cameron smiled. For the past few days, Remy had always been alone. And, she was pretty sure the first time she had picked her up that she was being teased. Remy hadn't said anything about it though.

Cameron watched her just stare at the boy while he was talking. Remy didn't look amused by his words, and he looked panicked. Then she giggle at what the boy was saying before spotting her and heading for the car.

"Who was that?" Cameron asked.

"Just a friend, I guess," Remy smiled. Cameron was happy to see Remy so cheered up; this might have actually been the happiest she'd ever seen her. But, something was nagging at Cameron.

"A Timothy Corrigan doesn't go to your school does he?" Cameron couldn't help but ask.

"Yeah, Timmy and I are close." Remy smirked.

"How close?" Cameron asked immediately. Remy laughed.

"I have no idea who he is, but you scowled over every syllable of his name," she giggled.

"Oh, thank god." Cameron mumbled.

"Who is he?" Remy asked.

"I, uh, met his mom. Nice lady." Cameron lied. Remy seemed to believe it.

"Okay," Remy shrugged, her tone implying she knew Cameron was skipping over something and that she was slightly hurt by it.

"Just Doctor stuff." Cameron tried to explain without actually explaining, "You know, you're welcome to invite your friends over."

"Thanks," Remy shrugged.

"Is that a yes?" Cameron asked.

"That's a maybe sometime," Remy shrugged.

"It's your house too now." Cameron said.

"That boy isn't really my friend." Remy turned to face Cameron.

"What do you mean?" Cameron asked. She thought she might die of both shock and fear if Remy said that he was her boyfriend.

"We never really talked until today. His name is Matt and we were paired together for a science project." Remy shrugged.

"Do you like Mat?" Cameron asked.

"I don't know. I guess we could be friends." Remy shrugged, the true meaning of Cameron's question going right over her head.

Cameron was relieved by the answer. It not only meant that Remy had no current interest in boys, but it also meant that she was starting to make friends. Cameron reveled in the bliss for a few moments before wondering about the boys part. She was sure that over the past few years Remy's mother had probably stamped one hundred things in her head about the evils of the opposite sex.

"If you were to want to be more than friends with Matt, it would be okay." Cameron mentioned. Remy's head snapped towards her.

"No," she said simply.

"All I just mean is that it wouldn't change who you are." Cameron said, hoping she wasn't being too pushy and knowing she was being really awkward. Cameron also realized Remy was only eleven and it was perfectly normal not to like boys yet. Remy so far had expressed no interest in choosing her own clothes or in make up or any of the things Cameron had loved at her age.

"I know that one day I'll have to be married and have kids, but boys only take girls down the wrong path while they're still in school." Remy seemed to recite.

"Remy, I'm an adult and I'm not married and I didn't have kids before you." Cameron stated. She wondered if Remy thought she was a bad person.

"You have a wedding photo on the mantle." Remy stated.

"I was married once, but he passed away. But, I mean you don't have to get married and have kids. You're more than welcome too, but it's not the only path in life to take." Cameron tried to explain.

Remy seemed to mull this over for a minute, "Do you think I could be a doctor?" she asked.

"You can be anything you want to be," Cameron smiled, "and you can do it married or single," she laughed.

"But, now? I can't have a boyfriend. I'll get pregnant and have to drop out then-"

"Do you know how two people have a baby?" Cameron cut her off. Remy shot her a look.

"Yes, but that's what you do with a boyfriend." Remy said.

"No, its not." Cameron shot out. Remy looked confused.

"Boyfriends are like male friends who you like to spend time with alone. You go see movies, you have dinner, and you dance at parties. Sex is for," Cameron considered saying marriage, but she knew that could blow up, "when you're ready for it."

"Why would a boy date me if I wouldn't do that with him?" Remy asked. Cameron liked that she was too embarrassed to say the word 'sex'.

"Because you are smart and beautiful and fun to be around," Cameron answered.

"I still don't want a boyfriend," Remy said slowly.

"That's okay." Cameron said, somewhat relieved.

"Do you have one?" Remy asked. Cameron shook her head

"What about Dr. Chase?" Remy asked.

"We're just good friends." Cameron answered.

"I think he likes you." Remy shrugged.

"He's just nice," Cameron mumbled, not wanting to get into their crash and burn and smoking meth history.

She was grateful they had arrived at her place. This tie the car deadline worked in her favor. Although they were going to the same place, but Remy seemed to be focused on something from her backpack. So, awkward conversation over. Cameron breathed a sigh of relief.

"Need help with that?" Cameron asked, as she unlocked her door fro Remy.

"No, but thanks," Remy said reading the paper. It looked like a homework project.

Remy proceeded into her room to work on school stuff, and Cameron opened a book for what felt like the first time in weeks.

About an hour into book, Cameron heard a familiar buzzing noise. She got up went looking for her pager. She found it in a jacket pocket. It was a 911 from House. That either meant he was bored or their formerly stable patient had crashed.

"Remy, I might have to run into work." Cameron yelled, as she grabbed for her phone.

"He's septic," was the terse reply got after two and a half rings.

"I'm coming," Cameron said.

"Bring the brat." House laughed before hanging up.

"Can I come?" Remy asked appearing with her backpack and a jacket.

"Yeah, but we have to go now." Cameron said, grabbing her keys and her lab coat off the counter. Remy smiled and hoisted her backpack around her good arm.

She followed Cameron out into her car, and they sped off towards the hospital.

"Do I get to meet your boss?" Remy asked.

"No," Cameron shook her head. Remy cracked a smile.

"How bad could he be?" she asked.

"Just avoid him. You can hang out in the Doctor's lounge. We've got a great TV and a lot of snacks." Cameron said avoiding the question.

"I brought homework." Remy said.

"Good," Cameron replied as she pulled into her parking spot and rushed Remy into the hospital. She sped towards the doctor's lounge and opened the door for Remy. Remy walked in nervously, knowing that Cameron wouldn't be following.

"You must be the brat."

Cameron stopped in her tracks. Fuck.

"He's not septic is he?" Cameron asked, seeing House holding a giant lollipop with a huge smile.

"I'm your pseudo-mom's boss." House said holding out the giant lollipop.

"I'm Remy," Remy replied slowly as she took the lollipop from him.

"House," Cameron groaned.

"Your kid just accepted candy from a stranger." He whispered annoyingly to Cameron.

"Thank you for pointing out the flaws in my parenting." Cameron glared.

"Come on, Rem. We can go home." Cameron said, motioning Remy to follow her.

"Leaving so soon?" House asked, "We could play video games or a round of monopoly."

"I don't know how to play videogames." Remy shrugged.

"You don't know how to play video games!" House nearly yelled, "Cameron, what is wrong with you! Come with me kid."

Cameron just watched in awe as House led Remy towards his office. She picked up Remy's bag and followed. She collapsed in a chair and watched as House taught her to play.

She was kind of in awe at how well he seemed to be playing with her. She supposed that House needed someone at his maturity level to get along with; it made sense. But still, this was a sight she had never expected.


	10. Chapter 10

And now she's 13…

Sorry for the wait

* * *

"Do I have Huntington's?" Remy asked.

"What?" Cameron spun around. Remy was wearing her black hoodie, which Cameron came to regard as her 'I'm in a bad mood' jacket.

"I know it's genetic. Were you ever going to tell me?" Remy said, looking somewhere between devastated and furious.

"I was going to tell you when you turned eighteen. I didn't think you were old enough to understand when you first came to live with me." Cameron answered, trying to stay calm. She could have said something around the lines of 'I told you in was genetic but not what genetic meant', but she thought would be a little too glib.

"Well, do I have it?" Remy asked.

"I don't know." Cameron said, not looking Remy in the eye.

"I want to get tested." Remy asserted.

"Remy, you're just thirteen. I think this is something you might want to wait on. Even if you have it, you have two decades before you see signs and by then there could be a cure." Cameron said.

"I deserve to know if I've lived a third of my lifespan." Remy said, her voice growing more irritated.

"Wait a week, if you still want to get tested we'll do it at your check up." Cameron said.

"It took me a week to be able to bring this up to you." Remy whined.

"This is something I want you to think about." Cameron said. Remy nodded and took a seat at the table. Cameron watched her put her head in her hands like she'd done so many times over the past two years.

Remy had grown about five inches, putting her just a head under Cameron, and just too big to be picked up. Which was a shame, because Cameron missed it, but Remy was growing up.

Cameron wanted to ask how Remy found out, but she knew it would come off sounding like she had tried to hide the information. Remy had her moody teen moments, but they had yet to actually get into a fight.

And this new topic was probably the most serious one they'd had to talk about in quite a while.

"Is there anything else you're hiding from me?" Remy muttered.

"The tooth fairy, she's not real." Cameron whispered. Remy just glared.

"I'm sorry, okay. I didn't want you to find out from some stranger or textbook or whatever. But, you've been through so much in the past two years, and I didn't think it was fair lumping this on top." Cameron explained.

"I see where you're coming from," Remy muttered. Cameron smiled, it was fairly evident that Remy had been in therapy for the past two years, "but it doesn't change anything,"

"Remy, in twenty years a lot will have changed," Cameron sighed.

"Or maybe nothing will have changed," Remy yelled in frustration, she stood up and walked back to her room. Cameron waited to hear a door slam, but it never came. This meant that Remy had moved into the sad stage of this topic.

"Remy, come back. It's almost dinner," Cameron yelled.

"I'm not hungry," Remy yelled back.

"Then sit with me," Cameron said, approaching her door,

"I have homework," Remy mumbled

"It can wait a half hour," Cameron argued, as she began putting together two plates.

"Fine," Remy grumbled, exiting her room and coming into the kitchen to sit at the table. Cameron put a plate in front of her, and then sat down next to her with a plate of her own.

"I told you I'm not hungry," Remy mumbled.

"Your body needs the fuel," Cameron said, sounding unamused.

"The human body can go about five weeks without food," Remy crossed her arms.

"You spend too much time with House," Cameron sighed. They were rubbing off on each other in unfortunate ways. House was becoming even more immature and Remy seemed to be becoming too smart for her won good.

"And sign one of starvation is irritability and lethargy," Cameron said, watching Remy hold her head in her hands and stare at her plate.

"I just found out I may be dying." Remy retorted.

"Everyone is dying, Rem. I'm dying. My cells are dying faster than they're being recreated, and who knows, maybe I'll get hit by a bus tomorrow. Why would you want to know about it beforehand? When it may not even mater by the time it becomes a problem. And that's only _if _you have it." Cameron said, finding herself quickly losing her appetite as well.

"Can I be excused?" Remy asked, not bothering to give Cameron a response.

"No, eat your dinner." Cameron said, hating herself for nagging.

"I'm not eating it." Remy said, pushing her plate forward for emphasis.

"You're such a teenager." Cameron shook her head.

"I know, I'm getting big." Remy said sarcastically.

"As you should be," Cameron said, not really sure what Remy was saying. Remy was by no means fat, in fact, she was just approaching normal. And as far as height went, she was about average. Cameron wondered if there was some unseen piece of Anne's wisdom still floating around in Remy's head.

Cameron figured she'd mention this to Remy's therapist. Or maybe it was completely normal. She would never admit it, but she'd read House's book cover to cover one night after freaking out when Remy came home from school crying and wouldn't say why. So, she knew it was typical for teenagers to fight, and rebel against rules, but this wasn't her usual Remy.

"So, how's school?" Cameron asked.

"Subtle," Remy glared.

"Would you prefer we stay on the subject of you not eating?" Cameron smirked back.

"I want to talk about the fact that I'm dying," Remy frowned. Cameron sighed.

"How do you feel about that, then?" Cameron asked.

"Terrified and overwhelmed and like I need a legitimate answer." Remy responded honestly.

"I'm not saying you can't have one. I'm just asking you to wait." Cameron said.

"I don't want to," Remy said.

"Well, I don't want you to know," Cameron responded, "So, we're compromising."

"I'll never see it your way," Remy said, putting her head back in her hands.

"Then in a week, you'll have your answers." Cameron said, pushing Remy's plate back in front of her.

"But, if I have it. This will be another week wasted." Remy whined.

"Do you really think you're going to live your life any differently?" Cameron asked.

"Yes," Remy cried.

"Then I suggest you always live like that. Forty years or one hundred years, life is short. Live it the way you want to." Cameron said.

With that Remy stood up and stomped back to her room.

"I guess you don't want to eat with me then," Cameron groaned and sunk back into her chair.


	11. Chapter 11

Okay, so I may have lied about the story going more around Remy than Cameron..

Amazonlife- I'll get back to him. He's been locked away (which will be explained soon), so no need to worry though.

And too all my reviewers, thank you so much. Sorry ten took so long to put up, so I'm posting this pretty early, and 12 tomorrow. Let me know what you think!

* * *

"I'm thinking season one" House smiled as he threw box on the glass table instead of a case file.

"Is this your soap?" Foreman groaned as he opened the lid of the box. Cameron rolled her eyes at House.

Then she felt a vibration in her pocket.

"Since, we're not doing anything. I'm going to take this,' she said holding up her phone for him to see. The number on the screen was Remy's school, so Cameron was a bit worried.

"This is Plainsboro Middle School, there was an incident with Remy."

"Is she alright?' Cameron asked, standing up and going into the hallway. House dropped a DVD and watched her intently.

"She's hurt, but she'll be okay. We need you to come pick her up. She's been suspended."

"What?" Cameron yelled loudly enough that the team heard her across the glass divide.

"She got into a fight. We'll explain when you come in."

"I'll be there in fifteen minutes," Cameron groaned. She hung up her phone and went back into the office.

"The brat okay?" House asked actually sounding concerned.

"I don't even know." Cameron shrugged, "I have to go get her."

House nodded and waved her off with a flick of his wrist. Cameron grabbed her bag and headed towards her car.

She couldn't believe Remy had gotten into a fight. That was not like her. Cameron wondered if Remy was defending herself, which could have been a good thing. It might mean that she finally learned to stand up for herself, despite violence never being the right answer. Or, maybe she'd twisted Cameron's advice about living exactly how you want to.

Cameron rubbed her temples as she approached the school. Really, no matter what this wasn't going to be good. Remy had been doing well for a while, but she seemed to be slipping slowly downwards. Cameron wondered if it was her influence.

Cameron parked and headed into the school. She'd only ever entered for parent teacher conferences, which were weird enough for her, but now she was going to see the principal. It felt wrong.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Cameron, Remy's guardian." Cameron said approaching the secretary. She nodded and pointed for Cameron to head past her into the principal's office.

Cameron spotted Remy sitting in a chair outside. She was staring down in her lap, avoiding eye contact.

"Remy, do you want to tell me what happened?" Cameron asked kneeling down next to her.

Remy shook her head.

"You sure you don't want to tell me before your principal does?" Cameron asked again.

"No," Remy said harshly. Her voice peaked upwards at the end like she was going to cry. That's when Cameron noticed that she was holding her arm.

Cameron put out her hands and took Remy's arm. She examined it, and pushed at some places only to hear a yelp from Remy.

"It very well might be broken again," Cameron said, shaking her head.

"It's fine," Remy said, her voice cracking.

"I'll take you to the hospital after I talk to your principal." Cameron said, trying to sound sympathetic and disappointed.

"I don't want another cast." Remy said, wiping at her eyes, which were beginning to tear.

"It would only be a wrist one, you'd be able to bend your elbow this time." Cameron said, stroking her hair.

"I still don't want it." Remy mumbled.

"Then you shouldn't have hit anyone." Cameron said, opening the door.

"I didn't," Cameron heard her grumble before the door shut behind her.

"Dr. Cameron, good to see you." The principal extended an arm. Cameron shook it and took a seat.

"So, what's going on?" Cameron asked nervously.

"Remy took a swing at another girl in gym class." The principal replied.

"Oh god," Cameron rubbed her forehead.

"She missed, hit the wall, pretty hard too." The principal added.

"Do you know why?" Cameron asked.

"Gym coach said she was probably being teased. It happens a lot in middle school." The principal said, not sounding especially concerned.

"The other girl was named Chelsea Marks, they've both been suspended." The principal said, reading off a piece of paper.

"Do you now anything else, it really isn't like Remy to hit someone," Cameron said.

"Nothing else. I'm sorry. Remy's been doing remarkably since you took guardianship of her. Straight A's, even in science, and her teacher's say she's been participating a lot more this year. Children fight, if this is the worst thing she's ever done, consider yourself lucky." The principal said.

"Thanks," Cameron said, extending her arm. She still didn't feel better, but she supposed this could have been a lot worse.

"Also, she's suspended from school, but if she's already got a date or anything, she's still welcome to come to the dance this weekend." The principal added.

"Thanks," Cameron said again before letting herself out. Remy hadn't even mentioned the dance.

"Come on Remy," Cameron said, holding out her arm for the girl.

Remy stood up and followed Cameron out slowly.

"Remy, can you tell me why you hit Chelsea?" Cameron asked, as Remy struggled to put her seat belt on. After a few moments, Cameron reached over and did it for her.

"She's always mean to me, and I didn't want to take it anymore." Remy said, rubbing at her stomach.

"What's wrong with walking away, or telling an adult?" Cameron asked.

"Is that what you did in school?" Remy asked sarcastically.

"I never hit anyone," Cameron answered.

"Of course not. You were probably popular and pretty and I doubt anyone picked on you." Remy turned towards the window.

"Remy, I was a mess. I was too short, I played the clarinet, and my skin was disgusting. I'd keep pictures around, but I don't want to scare anyone," Cameron joked.

Remy turned around and looked at her.

"You are beautiful, Remy. You get prettier everyday, and I'm sure it drives some people crazy." Cameron said, taking a turn towards the hospital.

"I get uglier everyday," Remy muttered.

"Did someone tell you that?" Cameron asked.

"I look more and more like her everyday." Remy said.

"Like who?" Cameron asked, feeling like she knew the answer.

"My mom, I hate her, and I hate the way she looked, and now I have her eyes and her mouth and her stupid body, and maybe even her stupid disease," Remy spit out.

"You're not her." Cameron said pulling into a parking spot, but not getting out of the car.

"I look more like her everyday. Yeah, I'm getting bigger, like everyone in the world likes to point out, but I'm growing into her body." Remy teared.

"Remy, you're mother was beautiful, and inside she had a good heart." Cameron said.

"No, she wasn't, and I'm not going to let myself end up like her." Remy said, "I remember what happened, and worse everyone else does too. She went crazy, she lit our house on fire and left me to die!"

Cameron leaned across the seat and pulled Remy into a hug.

"Is this why you wont eat?" Cameron asked.

"She used to do it to me, and she was doing me a favor. If I don't eat I can't grow up and turn into a dumb slut." Remy sobbed.

"You will never be a dumb slut, and no one deserves to be called that," Cameron said pulling back.

Remy shrugged looking guilty, and Cameron groaned.

"You called Chelsea that, didn't you," Cameron asked. Remy nodded.

"She has huge boobs, and she's kissed like five boys" Remy shrugged.

"That doesn't make her a slut or dumb," Cameron said, feeling the need to bash her head against a wall.

"But, having small ones makes me a stupid baby?" Remy shot back.

"Is that really what you fight about?" Cameron asked.

"Among other things," Remy said, her cheeks turning red.

"Remy, if you don't eat your body wont have enough fat to develop." Cameron said. Remy's cheeks went even redder.

"It's not fair that I can't control what changes," Remy whined.

"Sorry kid," Cameron said, pulling the keys out of the ignition finally.

"-and I still don't want another cast," Remy added, getting out of the car and taking the lead into the hospital.

"You shouldn't have hit a wall then," Cameron smirked.

"I wasn't aiming for the wall," Remy shot back. Cameron ran to catch up to Remy and pulled her into a hug from the back.

"Hey," Remy shrieked.

"This way, we're not going to my office," Cameron said, rerouting her towards the ER.

"Can't I see House? I bet he could fix my arm without a cast." She said.

"He's a miracle worker not a magician. But, I'm sure he already knows you're here," Cameron rolled her eyes. She rounded a corner and there he was sitting behind the nurses' station sucking on a kid's lollipop.

"Brat!" He smiled, seeing her.

"House!" Remy smiled back. She ran towards him, and he tossed her a sucker. She caught it in her bad hand and winced. House grabbed her arm ad quickly examined it before shooting Cameron a look.

"Let's go get an x-ray," he said, jumping up.

"Waiting for us?" Cameron asked House.

"And avoiding clinic duty - multi-tasking," he smirked.

"Don't forget, eating candy meant for sick children," Remy threw in. Cameron smiled at her playfulness, and at how happy she was with House just moments after her breakdown in the car.

"Can I get tested while we're here," Remy said, turning around and tugging at Cameron's sleeve.

"At your check up," Cameron said, not budging on her answer.

"STDs or pregnancy?" House asked, smiling at you.

"Huntington's," Remy glared back. House's smile disappeared and he and Cameron shared a look.


	12. Chapter 12

WonderousPlaceForAnEcho – don't worry I have no intention of putting them together. I really didn't plan for any sort of romance in this fic.

and thank you to my fabulous reviewers.

* * *

"Tired or hungry?" Cameron asked, when she and Remy arrived back at their house.

"No and no," Remy responded, flicking at her brand new lime green arm cast.

"You sure?" Cameron asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm grumpy, you don't like it, I get it." Remy said, throwing herself down on the couch.

"To be fair, your day hasn't exactly been the best," Cameron shrugged.

"Yup," Remy said, scratching around her cast.

"So, you cant go to school for the rest of the week, but your principal said you were still welcome to go to the dance," Cameron said. Remy sat up and looked at Cameron before releasing a breath.

"She told you," Remy groaned.

"I take it you don't want to go," Cameron asked.

"I don't know," Remy said, throwing herself back into a lying position.

"Well, I know you can't stand shopping, but we can get you a dress or whatever you want to wear." Cameron said.

"I can't go," Remy answered.

"You just said that you weren't sure if you wanted to go," Cameron said, growing confused. She could feel herself quickly becoming one of those parents who 'just doesn't get it'.

"Ben asked me, and I said I couldn't go. So, if I showed up and he still came I'd look like an asshole," Remy explained quickly.

"Ben, biology partner Ben?" Cameron asked. The boy had come over after school once last year to work on a volcano project. He was the only person Remy had ever invited home.

"Yeah, we're friends and we eat lunch together, so I don't know why he's asking me." Remy rubbed her stomach again.

"What's wrong with your stomach?" Cameron asked quickly.

"Nothing," Remy responded, "He's going to make our friendship awkward,"

"Maybe he asked you to go as friends," Cameron asked, she watched as Remy still rubbed her stomach.

"Well, I told him I couldn't anyhow, so situation averted." Remy groaned. Cameron stood up, and quickly pealed up the edge of Remy's shirt.

"Hey!" Remy shrieked, quickly pulling the material back down.

"Remy, you could have told me it hurt. We could have given you something for it at the hospital." Cameron said, heading into the kitchen.

"It's not a big deal, so she got one punch in." Remy curled up on her side.

Cameron came back with an ice pack and handed it to Remy.

"It's really bruised up," Cameron cringed.

"Chelsea is," Remy hesitated, "strong" she decided would be the best adjective.

"Keep ice on it," Cameron said, standing over Remy. Remy was holding onto the bottom of her shirt and glaring.

"So, what would be so wrong about going with Ben?" Cameron asked.

"What's wrong with not going. I don't want anything to change. I like our friendship the way it is." Remy responded. Cameron wondered if he was her only friend, but held back on asking.

"You never see him outside of school. Wouldn't it be fun to see him in a suit, and you could wear a dress and show your friends what your arms and legs look like," Cameron smirked.

"No," Remy shrugged.

"I always liked going just for the dresses. It was fun to see what everyone picked out." Cameron mused. Remy seemed to like that idea. She smiled as her eyes looked off to the ceiling.

"I don't want to," she finally shrugged.

"Worst case scenario, you don't like it and I come get you." Cameron pointed out.

"It's Sunday, I'd miss religious school." Remy said.

"Not unless the dance is in the morning," Cameron raised an eyebrow.

"True," Remy mumbled.

"Either way, missing a day isn't the end of the world." Cameron said, hoping she could get Remy into a dress and have some cute photos.

"You wouldn't mind if I didn't go?" Remy asked, sounding confused.

"Not at all, you know how I feel about religion, Rem." Cameron shrugged.

"You seemed so excited that I went," Remy said, still sounding skeptical.

"I liked that you found it interesting and were with other kids your age rather than hanging out with me all weekend." Cameron shrugged.

"Would you mind if I didn't go?" Remy asked.

"So you could go to the dance?" Cameron asked back.

"No, I mean in general. I don't want to go anymore. I feel like I'm wasting my time there," Remy said.

Cameron nodded. She wasn't sure if Remy was momentarily mad at god, had had enough, had turned to Cameron's side of religion and was taking her 'live like your dying and don't waste your time' advice, or really any of the other possibilities.

"I'd be okay with that, but I'm curious as to why you don't want to go anymore." Cameron said.

"I told you, it's wasted time," Remy said, sitting up again with the icepack pressed against her shirt.

"I think you can dig a little deeper." Cameron said.

"I know the bible. I get that my mom took it too far, but she still ruined it for me. I'm glad I went because there were things she said that I would have always believed with out it. But, the more I go the more I hate her and sometimes even god and that's not what religion is about." Remy said.

"Have you talked to your therapist about this?" Cameron asked, Remy's answer had sounded very thought out.

"A lot," Remy sighed.

"You still like her right?" Cameron asked.

"Yeah," Remy shrugged. Cameron wondered if Remy was getting done with therapy. She wasn't sure if she took her out if Remy would talk to her more or close up, but she figured she could sit on that decision for a while longer.

Besides, almost everyday brought more light to how screwed up Anne was and what she made Remy believe.

"I guess, we'll need a new Sunday morning routine," Cameron shrugged.

"Sleeping in!" Remy said, smiling.

"You're such a teenager," Cameron shook her head.

"House still thinks I'm a child." Remy shrugged.

"He is a child." Cameron shook her head.

"He told me you went on a date with him once," Remy smirked.

"He lies," Cameron denied. She also prayed that House didn't decide to share any other stories, especially stories about her friends with benefits relationship with Chase.

"So, fights, quitting religious school, lime green for your cast. Is this all you living your life to the fullest?" Cameron asked.

"Yup," Remy nodded proudly.

"So, don't you think if any inkling of you wants to go to the dance that you should go?" Cameron said, pushing her point. Remy groaned.

"You know, you could ask a date." Cameron said. Remy rarely mentioned boys, so Cameron didn't really know how Remy would react. She wasn't sure if she should be expecting an 'ew' or an 'omg that hottie from math!'.

"No, I couldn't," Remy blushed.

"Oh, there is someone you want to go with," Cameron laughed playfully.

"No, there isn't." Remy said, staring back down at her stomach.

"It takes guts and a lot of confidence to ask someone out. I'm sure your future date would be relieved that you did the asking." Cameron said, reaching out and tickling Remy's side.

"No," Remy shook her head, she moved away from Cameron on the couch in a fit of giggles.

"Can we get pizza for dinner?" Remy asked, changing the subject.

"Sure," Cameron shrugged. Remy smiled and grabbed for the TV remote. As she flipped channels Cameron stared off into space. Cameron focused on Remy's arm, the fight must have been bad. She couldn't believe this was Remy's second break in two years. Then again the first break probably made the arm weak enough to be broken again quite easily.

"You should call Chelsea." Cameron said, getting distracted by the bruising she could see as Remy's shirt rode up as she rubbed at her stomach.

"What!" Remy shrieked.

"Don't scream. It's a legitimate request." Cameron said, confused at Remy's outburst. And, moderately annoyed by the new shrieking thing that Remy had begun to do. Although, she was fairly certain it came along with being thirteen.

"You want me to ask Chelsea to the dance?" Remy looked horrified.

"No, where did you come up with that?" Cameron said, "I think you should apologize to her for the fight."

"Oh," Remy seemed to calm down. Cameron was still giving her a weird look.

"Stop staring at me," Remy said, standing up and still looking terrified.

"You know, some girls do take other girls to dances," Cameron said, pretty sure she was sounding too cryptic. But, she wasn't sure if Remy freaked out because she didn't like the idea of being gay or thought it was morally wrong, and she didn't want to bring anyone up with those beliefs.

"Not in middle school, I'd be dead meat." Remy said, wandering into the kitchen.

"I meant that hypothetically," Cameron said to herself in the empty room.


	13. Chapter 13

Sorry it took so long, id inset a sad face but i have no idea how to do that yet

* * *

"I forgot what a pain it is to shower without an arm," Remy sulked, after running into Cameron outside of the bathroom door. Once again, Remy looked like she was about to cry and her hair was still moderately filled with soap.

"Do you need help?" Cameron asked.

"No," Remy shook her head and scowled.

"Your hair is still foaming, Rem." Cameron smiled while messing with her hair.

"Fine," Remy sighed and turned around to get back into the shower.

"Sure you don't need help?" Cameron asked.

"I can do it myself." Remy yelled as she shut the door.

"Well, you have twenty minutes," Cameron yelled to the door.

"I'll be ready," Remy yelled back.

Cameron shook her head, and walked towards the kitchen. It wasn't a huge surprise that Remy was testy today, in about an hour she'd probably be screaming at nothing. Today was her test, and the anticipation and waiting for the results would be stressful.

After making herself a cup of coffee, Cameron sat in front of the television and flipped through channels for a few minutes. She checked her watch. Remy had five minutes. She always felt odd going into the hospital for Remy's check ups. It was weird going in for something non work related, and before Remy, Cameron had made a point of scheduling any of her own appointments with doctors outside of the hospital.

"Can't you just prick my finger and whack my knee here?" Remy asked, finally arriving in the TV room, with wet hair and in a long sleeved sweater and jeans.

"Being a doctor not that simple," Cameron said, grabbing her keys and heading out. She wondered if that meant Remy didn't want to do the test, she doubted that Remy had forgotten.

"I know," Remy mumbled, as pulled open the car door with one hand.

Cameron tried to talk Remy into going to the dance on the ride over, but she wasn't having it. Cameron was happy that the conversation at least distracted Remy for their short ride.

Walking in, Cameron was surprised that House wasn't waiting for them in the lobby, but she figured maybe he'd show up later. She brought Remy into the doctor's office then sat in the waiting room.

She looked around at all the mothers with young kids; it still felt weird for her being a part of the group. Here she was hardly into her thirties, with a teenager. One who sadly, might be dying about the same time she would be, and that would only be if Cameron died statistically on time, but uncharacteristically young for someone of her health.

"Dr. Cameron, Remy is requesting you,"

Cameron looked up from her own thoughts to see a Nurse pop her head out of the office door.

Cameron nodded and followed her in. She had no idea what was going on. With House, Cameron only requested patients' parents if the patients were being difficult.

"Is everything okay?" Cameron asked, coming into the exam room. Remy was sitting up on the table in a paper gown swinging her still too bony legs back and forth.

"Everything is looking great, Remy just wanted to talk with you before her genetic test." The doctor smiled, "I'll give you two a minute."

"They have to take a lot of blood for it," Remy stated.

"Not really, they can do it with saliva or hair if you'd prefer." Cameron said, rubbing Remy's back.

"I don't like having people pull out my hair," Remy said, twirling it in her fingers.

"A strand, Rem. You wont feel it." Cameron responded, "If you don't want to do it, the test wont disappear. We can come back when you're ready."

"I should," Remy said, her voice gaining a few pitches, " I want to,"

"Are you sure?" Cameron asked, realizing her hesitancy.

"I want to know, but I don't want to know." Remy said, quickly.

"If you need more time, I'll run the test for you whenever you're ready." Cameron said, praying that wasn't for another ten or more years.

"If that's what you think we should do," Remy said. Cameron smirked, she wasn't going to make this decision for her. No matter how much she wanted to and didn't want Remy to have to get tested, Cameron knew it was ultimately up to Remy herself.

"Uh-uh," Cameron shook her head, "I want to hear what you want to do."

"I don't want to do it right now," Remy blurted out.

"That's perfectly okay," Cameron said, pulling Remy into a hug and kissing her on the forehead.

The Doctor knocked on the door, and Cameron pulled it open for her.

"You all ready?" She asked. Remy shot Cameron a look.

"She actually doesn't want to do the test right now," Cameron said. The doctor nodded.

"Then you're done, and released with a clean bill of health," the doctor smiled at Remy, "We'll let you get changed and meet you in the waiting room."

Cameron exited behind Remy, and paused for a moment wondering what his update was on her. This time last year Remy was grossly underweight and had a mild splattering of other problems. This year Cameron was hoping for better.

"Could I see her chart?" Cameron asked, wondering if that was okay to request. She did work in the building, after all.

"Her asthma isn't too bad, she'll probably out grow it in a few years, and developmentally she's doing fine. She's in the ninetieth percentile for height, weight is a little low but pretty much normal." The doctor said to Cameron while holding out the chart.

Cameron flipped through it with a smile.

"You're doing a great job, Dr. Cameron," the Doctor smiled.

"I'm ready," Remy said, exiting the exam room. Cameron thanked the Doctor, paid, and left with Remy in tow.

"There he is!" Remy yelled, as they approached the exit doors.

"House?" Cameron asked, not seeing him.

"He's in the hospital gown and hat," Remy pointed to a man sitting on a bench playing a game boy.

Remy ran over and Cameron slowly followed. As she approached, she realized the man was in fact House.

"What are you wearing?" Cameron asked.

"My newest disguise, Cuddy has been looking for me for hours," House smirked.

"House!" Remy shrieked. House shot Cameron a look to show his annoyance over the shrieking. Cameron shrugged.

"Not all of us are lucky enough to get Sunday's off," House said, throwing his arms up.

"You'd have Sunday's off if you finished your clinic hours during the week like you're supposed to," Cameron smirked.

"Like you're supposed to," House smiled.

"How long till you're old enough to be a doctor?" House asked Remy.

"I'm not doing your hours," she smiled.

"Fine, so how was the appointment brat?" House asked.

"Fine," Remy shrugged.

"Fine?' House asked.

"Yes," Remy crossed her arms.

"How descriptive, I always thought Dr. Clark had cold hands," House said, wiggling his eyebrows so only Cameron could see. Cameron gave him a mean look.

"They were fine," Remy shrugged, not picking up on his innuendo.

"House!" all three turned around.

"She spotted you and found me!' House growled.

"Suck it," Remy smirked. Cameron frowned. House definitely taught her that phrase.

"Have fun with clinic duty, and try not to pervert anyone else's kids." Cameron said, putting her arm out for Remy and getting ready to leave as Cuddy approached. Remy however didn't follow immediately.

"Kid run this up to my office," House whispered to Remy and tossed her his Gameboy. Remy took off running, and Cameron groaned.

"No more using her," Cameron shook her head.

"What are you doing House!" Cuddy said, finally reaching them.

"I fell, I'm getting old you know." House said. Cuddy just pointed towards the clinic with a scowl.

"Fine, slave master," House growled as he limped away.

"What are you doing here, Dr. Cameron?" Cuddy asked, making casual conversation.

"Remy had an appointment." Cameron smiled.

"Oh, How's her arm?" Cuddy asked, Cameron laughed. News traveled fast at the hospital.

"She cant stand the cast, but it will be off in a few weeks," Cameron said, "speak of the devil," she added seeing Remy step off the elevator.

"I'm going to take her home, but I'll see you tomorrow." Cameron said, as Remy joined them.

"Bye," Cuddy waved to both of them. Remy didn't wave back. She kept her eyes on the floor as she followed Cameron out.

Remy also didn't say a word on their ride home. Cameron wondered if it was the test, although she seamed normal with House. But, Cameron realized, Remy was always relaxed with House. Could something have happened on her 'secret mission'?

"Do you regret not taking the test?" Cameron asked, still not having figured it out by the time she had pulled up towards her house.

"No," Remy shook her head. Cameron parked and Remy jumped out of the car and took off into the building. Cameron caught up to her at the door, still not having realized what was going on.

"Is there anything you want to do tonight?' Cameron asked.

"No," Remy answered rushing inside and towards he room. Cameron sighed, no test (which was great in her opinion), no dance, and no answers for her.

She was just confused.


	14. Chapter 14

TooLazytosingin- Yeah, you were pretty much right on the ball with your guess… Nice job

Thank you to all my fabulous readers, here is our next installment:

* * *

Cameron stared at Remy's door wondering if she should go in. Remy had been in there for the past hour, not exactly odd, but she hadn't said anything since leaving the hospital. Cameron wondered what she could be freaking out about, and of course if she was even freaking out. Was she having second thoughts about the dance?

Or maybe the test?

Did she run into Chase upstairs and get scared again? That one was unlikely though, Remy had seen Chase occasionally, and she knew Maxwell had been in prison for almost a full year now. Social services 'random home visit' had upturned three consecutive life sentences worth of child pornography.

"Remy, you want to come out and get some dinner?" Cameron finally knocked on the door.

"No thank you," Remy yelled back. Her voice had no particular inflection, and it reminded Cameron of when she first met Remy.

That couldn't be a good sign, Cameron realized. She knocked again before opening the door.

"Didn't we just have a talk about what happens when you don't eat?" Cameron asked. Remy was sitting still on her bed. Cameron came over and sat next to her.

"I can't eat right now," Remy said, dismissing Cameron.

"Remy, I need you to tell me what's going on." Cameron said taking a hold of Remy's hands. Remy turned and stared at her before her face crumpled.

"I did something bad," she stated.

"What did you do? I'm sure it's not that bad." Cameron said, feeling her stomach twist.

"No, really bad. I'm a bad person, Cameron." Remy said, beginning to cry, "I'm sorry"

"You're not a bad person. Everyone makes mistakes." Cameron said.

"You'll hate me," Remy cried harder, "I hate me."

"I could never hate you." Cameron said, grabbing some tissues from the box on Remy's desk and handing them to her.

"I- I saw something," Remy began, "in the hospital,"

"What did you see Remy? Was this upstairs?" Cameron asked.

"Yeah, I was putting away the Gameboy and I was putting it in the drawer where he keeps it," Remy began crying harder.

"Oh," Cameron said, knowing where this was headed. House kept his Gameboy in the second drawer on the left. That was his forbidden drawer; Home to everything from his pills to his porn.

"Remy it's okay, that doesn't make you a bad person." Cameron said. She rubbed Remy's back.

"If you were a boy, I'm sure you'd have some hidden under your bed somewhere," Cameron tried to joke.

"What?" Remy asked.

"Remy its called pornography. It's legal, sure it's gross, but boys like it." Cameron said, trying to make it sound like not such a big deal. Inside she was plotting her revenge against House.

"Boys?' Remy asked.

"Yes, I'm sure even Ben has some tucked away somewhere." Cameron said, wondering if this was too much, "Remy, you're a teenager now, and you're going to be exposed to a lot of sexual things that you grew up thinking were wrong. You don't have to join in, but I don't want you to be scared."

"There's more?" Remy scrunched her eyebrows.

"You're at an age where you're just discovering sex and relationships, and it's normal to be curious about things." Cameron tried not to sound awkward, but she didn't really know where she was going with this.

"I wasn't curious," Remy said, as if she had been accused.

"I know, it was an accident, but it's alright. If you hadn't seen it today, you'd probably have seen it somewhere else." Cameron said, wondering how Remy was still oblivious to a lot of things her classmates were probably obsessed with.

Cameron's thoughts of Ben as Remy's only friend began to make more sense.

"But, you said it's gross," Remy still cried.

"Some people like it," Cameron said, uncomfortably. She would be lying if she had said she'd never seen any.

"But, you said it was gross," Remy said.

"While, I mean that's just an opinion. It's normal, it's just one of those things we don't talk openly about." Cameron said, feeling like she was digging herself into a hole.

"So its shameful? But, what if I didn't think it was gross?" Remy asked, quietly.

"It's not shameful, just secret. Like I don't tell people every time I go to the bathroom, but that doesn't make it a secret or not okay." Cameron tried to explain.

"It's normal to be curious about the body, Remy." Cameron said. Remy looked down at her hands.

"Is that what like Chelsea or other girls looks like under her clothes?" Remy asked, her cheeks going bright red.

"No one actually looks like that Remy. People have scars and body fat," Cameron said, trying to make eye contact.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," Remy crossed her arms over her chest.

"Okay, but I want you to know it's always okay to talk to me about these things," Cameron said.

"Okay," Remy mumbled.

"You want to come eat dinner now?" Cameron asked. Remy shook her head.

"Can you tell me why?" Cameron asked. Remy shook her head again.

"Remy, you need to tell me what else you're thinking about. This isn't healthy for you." Cameron said, coming back over to sit down by Remy.

"Everyone is at the dance tonight," Remy shrugged.

"Do you want me to take you over?" Cameron asked. Remy shook her head.

"They're probably kissing and stuff, everyone was talking about it in gym." Remy mumbled.

"It's okay to want to kiss Ben," Cameron smiled.

"I don't want to kiss Ben, I didn't want to go with him," Remy said, getting upset again.

"I didn't mean anything by it, I'm sorry," Cameron said, hoping she wouldn't start to cry again.

"I wanted to go with Kate," Remy said, a few tears escaping her eyes. Cameron froze; she had not been expecting that.

Cameron used her hand to wipe the tears from Remy's face.

"That's okay," Cameron finally said, "it doesn't make you a bad person,"

"I know it's not normal," Remy said, her chin quivering.

"It's completely normal, Remy. A lot of girls like other girls. They even have bars and clubs for girls who are looking for other girls." Cameron said, not really knowing how to explain lesbianism to a sexually repressed thirteen year old.

"But I should like boys, and I do, but I also like Kate," Remy said.

"That's also normal. I believe you fall in love with the person, not the gender." Cameron said.

"Have you ever been in love with a girl?" Remy asked.

"No, but if I found myself having feelings for other girls, I would be okay with that, and I hope you would be too." Cameron said, feeling like she was beginning to get this right.

"My mom would hate me," Remy said.

"Your mom loves you, she's in a better place where she can see things clearly now." Cameron said.

"And I don't care who you love, I will love you no matter what." Cameron added.

"No matter what?" Remy asked.

"Well, maybe not if you don't come eat dinner with me because I am starving." Cameron smiled.

"Okay," Remy nodded with a half smile.


	15. Chapter 15

Remy sat on the bench watching her class play volleyball. She supposed the one good thing about her cast was that she didn't actually have to play. She was small and it sucked being picked last for teams, so bench warming was a happy alternative for her.

"Hey," Ben approached her.

"Hi," Remy nodded. She couldn't help but think of him differently now after her talk with Cameron.

"I wish you could have come last night, Chelsea fell on the dance floor and poured punch down her dress," Ben smiled. Remy giggled, they both hated Chelsea. She was pretty much the class bully.

"So, it was fun?" Remy asked, giving Ben a once over. He wasn't bad looking. He was small, but larger than her. He had nice skin and blue eyes.

"It would have been better if you were there." He shrugged, "I danced with Kate,"

Remy gulped, "Good dancer?"

"Okay," He shrugged. Remy wished she had gone, "I'm sure you'd be better."

Remy could feel herself blushing. She didn't know why she didn't really realize it until recently, but Ben definitely liked her, and she wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. Gender lines had never seemed like a huge deal to her until recently.

"You want to come over this weekend? My brother is coming home from college. He's really cool." Ben asked. Remy had been friends with Ben for years, but she'd never been to his house. Her mind wandered to what she'd find in his bedroom. Did he really have porn?

"Uh, yeah, sure." Remy said, noticing Chelsea coming over.

"Hey, lovebirds, we need our weakest link back," Chelsea said pointing over to the court.

"You'll be fine without me," Ben shrugged her off.

"Serious conversation? Look, Remy is all red." Chelsea teased. Remy stood up.

"Wouldn't want to break the other arm now. What would be left for you to reward little Ben with?"

Remy balled her hands into fists, but Ben pushed her back, and punched Chelsea in the face.

Remy was in a state of complete consternation. That had been unexpected. But, Ben had done that for her. It was nice, and it made Remy's heart flutter a bit, but nowhere near the feeling that it did when she looked over at the court and saw Kate jumping for a spike. Hey gym shirt crept up her stomach as she jumped, and Remy momentarily forgot about Ben. All she could look at were the two little dimples on Kate's lower back and the faded brown of a bruise probably acquired from actually participating in gym.

"I'm going to kill you," Chelsea said, taking a step in, but the gym coach had noticed and was already on her way over.

"Again, Remy?" Cameron said, finding Remy red-faced and sitting outside of the principal's office for the second week in a row. Cameron also noticed a boy sitting net to her. She recognized him. She hadn't seen Ben in a year, but he looked about the same, a little taller maybe.

"Hi, Dr. Cameron." He waved, his head held down shamefully.

"Hi Ben," Cameron gave him an ironic smile. She noticed that like Remy last week, he was clutching his wrist, "Let me take a look at that."

Even as a child, the doctor/mothering thing always took over in her. If someone was hurt she wanted to help, but Ben seemed a little surprised when she knelt in front of him and took his arm.

"She's a doctor," Remy piped in. Cameron let out a laugh. She was surprised Remy had never mentioned it, and understood Ben's surprise.

"It's not broken," Cameron said.

"He has better aim," Remy stated, looking up as the principal's door opened. A blonde girl much larger than Remy and her mother exited.

Cameron noticed Remy tense, and assumed that this girl must be Chelsea. Her eye was beginning to swell and would probably turn black soon. Cameron wondered if it would be a betrayal if she told Chelsea to ice it as soon as possible. Cameron held back though, assuming most people knew to ice black eyes.

"Sorry," Cameron said, letting go of Ben's arm. She had been holding it while checking Chelsea out.

"Remy, come on in," The principal popped her head out. Remy stood up and followed Cameron in.

"Good to see you again Dr. Cameron, I'm sorry it has to be on these conditions," the principal said.

"Me too," Cameron gave a weak smile.

"Once again, I didn't hit anyone." Remy said, slouching in her chair. Cameron's mouth dropped. Since when was Remy flat out disrespectful?

"I know Remy, but you were there and part of the argument." The principal spoke.

"Remy, you know better than to speak to anyone that way," Cameron hissed. Remy crossed her arms and shrugged. She didn't think it was fair that she had been called in.

"We're giving you another two day suspension, but next time we're going to have to consider harsher punishment. We can't have you in here every week." The principal frowned.

"Thank you," Cameron put out her hand for the principal to shake, "this won't happen again."

"That's not really up to me," Remy mumbled. Cameron shot her a look, but otherwise ignored the statement. With a few more parting words, Cameron took Remy by the arm and headed out of the office. Remy gave Ben a frown and a wave before running to catch up with Cameron.

"I didn't touch anyone, I don't see why you're so mad." Remy spoke first once she had entered the car.

"I'm trying to understand," Cameron mumbled.

"In fact, you weren't even mad at me when I tried to hit Chelsea." Remy said, turning to face Cameron who was staring out of the front window as she drove.

"I'm upset with how you spoke to your principal. You know better than to disrespect other people." Cameron frowned. Had she been to lenient of a parent. Was this Remy rebelling? Was she mad at the world for her newfound bisexuality? Or maybe this was completely normal overly hormonal teenage behavior.

"She had no right to suspend me," Remy shot back.

"She has every right to suspend you. Remy, when someone is doing something that angers you – walk away. It will save you a lot of trouble." Cameron said.

"I didn't do anything. Maybe I would have walked away, but Ben hit her before I could even register what was going on," Remy argued, "and she deserved it."

"No one deserves to be hit. Violence is never the way to solve a disagreement." Cameron said.

"I don't see what you're freaking out about? I was basically in the wrong place at the wrong time. But whatever, I get two days off of school. So, it's not exactly the worse punishment ever," Remy stated, still sounding angry. Cameron sighed, last year Remy was practically begging to go to school when she could have had days off. Too much was changing, and she couldn't pinpoint why. It was killing her.

"Are you taking me to the hospital?" Remy asked, sitting up in her seat.

"I was in the middle of a case when I got called in," Cameron said, "You'll have to hang out in the on call room."

"Can't I stay in House's office?" Remy asked. Cameron stifled a laugh, there was no way she was letting Remy back in there unsupervised.

"He needs it when he's actually working. You can do your homework in the on call room." Cameron answered.

"You're being really unfair," Remy groaned. Cameron's head jerked towards Remy, but she held back from responding. Cameron knew whatever she would respond to this would be an over reaction. She needed more parenting books or something.

"Well, Chase brought in brownies, so you can have candy." Cameron shrugged sarcastically a few moments later.

"Chase bakes?" Remy asked skeptically.

"So does House." Cameron responded.

"Huh," Remy shrugged. Cameron parked, and Remy hoisted her backpack onto her shoulder before heading into the hospital ahead of Cameron.

Cameron locked her car and walked in a few paces behind Remy. She watched the teenager sulk towards the elevator and hold the doors impatiently for her.

"Will we be home for dinner?" Remy asked.

"Hopefully," Cameron shrugged. The elevator moved a few floors up, and Cameron lead towards the doctor's lounge before heading back to work.


	16. Chapter 16

"Remy, time to get up," Cameron nudged the sleeping teenager. Remy's lips pursed into a frown and she rolled one of her arms over her eyes.

"Remy, we're leaving in twenty minutes," Cameron said, a little bit louder into Remy's ear. At this, Remy shot up.

"Huh?" she rubbed her eyes.

"You're coming into the hospital with me." Cameron smirked.

"It's five am," Remy groaned looking between her clock and the window where the sun had yet to come up.

"Being suspended sucks right?" Cameron said. In truth, she probably could have held off on going to work for a few hours, but their case hadn't been solved yet so a few extra hours put in would be helpful. And of course, Cameron figured this might teach Remy a lesson.

"Why do I have to go in?" Remy mumbled, pulling the sheets up to her chin.

"I'm not leaving you here, you're in trouble, remember?" Cameron said.

"The hospital's boring," she whined.

"You'll survive," Cameron said, yanking the covers back. Remy shivered.

"I don't feel well," Remy mumbled.

"Well, there's nowhere better to be than a hospital." Cameron said. Remy frowned and slowly stood up. She stretched and proceeded over to her closet.

"Do you want breakfast?" Cameron asked.

"I can't eat right now," Remy mumbled.

"I'll give you money, maybe you'll want something when the sun comes up," Cameron said, as she left Remy's room to allow the girl to get ready.

Cameron smiled as she headed towards her coffeemaker. She secretly loved that Remy was not enjoying this. Last time Remy had been suspended (all of a week ago) they had made a pretty good time of it. Except, of course, for the breakdowns, but those tended to happen with Remy.

Cameron watched her coffee maker slowly drip coffee into the glass pot. She wondered why she always made coffee at her house when she was just going to make more at work.

"I want to wear this," Remy entered the kitchen wearing her pajama pants and a sweatshirt.

Cameron looked at the coffee that she was just considering pointless, and reminded herself that she had a teenager.

"Go put clothes on, Rem." Cameron frowned. She wasn't especially amused right now.

"My phone isn't even done charging." Remy frowned back.

"The hospital has plugs," Cameron said, turning to get a mug for her coffee.

"Fine," Remy stormed back into her room. Cameron waited for the coffee to be done, and poured herself a large glass.

"I'm ready," Remy came back wearing jeans. Her backpack slung over her shoulder, and phone in hand, "Ben's mom didn't wake him up at five in the morning,"

"So you did?" Cameron smiled. Did Remy just refer to Cameron as her mom? Not directly, but comparatively. Cameron tried not to 'aww', but Remy's passing statement had just made her feel a lot better about herself.

"Oops," Remy shrugged. Cameron grinned wider. She wondered if Remy was beginning to like him. They had just had their 'its okay to like girls' talk, but honestly Cameron knew that it would be a lot easier for Remy, at least as a thirteen year old, to be interested in boys. And, Ben seemed like a good boy. Aside from the fact that he punched a girl.

"Are you not going to let me into House's office again?" Remy asked, as they headed to Cameron's car.

"I know how much you love the doctor's lounge," Cameron responded.

"Chase bakes a mean brownie." Remy shrugged looking down at her phone.

"No brownies before breakfast," Cameron shook her head.

"Hous-" Remy began.

"Is not a little girl," Cameron cut her off.

"I'm not a little girl," Remy pouted. Cameron gave her a grin, and Remy reached to turn the radio on.

"Is that Ben you're texting with or House?" Cameron asked.

"Ben, House wont text with me. He thinks it would get him in trouble with you." Remy rolled her eyes.

Cameron smiled. Good, her warnings had done something to get House to censor himself in front of Remy. Although, he had already managed to teach her sarcasm, trickery, and introduce her to porn granted indivertibly.

"Okay, we're here. You know the rules." Cameron said, pulling into her parking spot.

"Stay in the doctor's lounge, no brownies before breakfast, no fun," Remy listed.

"Especially that last one," Cameron agreed.

* * *

"Since you made me stay here all day and I followed all your rules, can I go to Ben's house tonight, please?" Remy asked. Remy wasn't sure what Cameron would say. Remy rarely went to other people's houses, and she knew Cameron wanted her to be more social. But, Remy also knew that Cameron was moderately mad at her, and Cameron knew that Ben liked her. This would be the kind of request that her mother would have punished her for.

Cameron looked at her for a moment, "It's a school night, Rem."

"It's not like I have school tomorrow." Remy frowned. She figured Cameron would say no. Going to a boy's house would probably only be trouble, but Remy found herself really curious about spending more time with Ben outside of school.

"I guess, I'm going to pick you up by ten though," Cameron said, noticing the initial disappointment in Remy's face, and how nervous she looked while asking.

"Really?" Remy asked, not quite believing it.

"Yes," Cameron shrugged, "You've been a good sport being stuck here,"

"And I didn't hit anyone this time," Remy couldn't help but throw in. Cameron shot her a look, and she understood that was the wrong thing to voice. Remy had read the parenting book House had given her, and she knew that Cameron knew not to positively reinforce behavior that was simply not bad rather than good.

"His parents will be home right?" Cameron asked.

"His dad and brother," Remy nodded.

"I didn't know Ben had a brother," Cameron said.

"He's home from college, he's twenty." Remy said, "He lives by the school."

"You want to go now?" Cameron asked Remy nodded and Cameron began to drive towards the school rather than their house.

"Do I have to go to the hospital with you tomorrow?" Remy asked.

"We'll see," Cameron answered. Remy sighed; she hated "we'll see". In fact, a "yes" would have been better.

"Turn here," Remy pointed. Cameron nodded and took the turn, "the third house on the right."

"Alright, I'll see you in a few hours." Cameron said, stopping the car. "Be good,"

"I'm always good," Remy smiled, she left her backpack in the car, and headed inside.

Remy watched Cameron drive away before she knocked on the door of Ben's house. It was rather large with white double doors leading inside.

"Good, you're here." She was greeted at the door.

"Hi," she smiled, walking in behind Ben.

"Do you want anything to eat or drink?" he asked politely.

"No thanks," Remy shook her head.

"Cool, come meet Brad." Ben said, taking Remy's hand and pulling her upstairs. Remy stared down at the joined fingers. She knew Ben was just a friend, but it was weird.

"Brad, Remy's here. I want you to meet her," Ben banged on the third door down the hallway. There was no response.

"He's in there, maybe he's on the balcony." Ben shrugged.

"Balcony?" Remy asked.

"Yeah," Ben nodded like it was completely normal for each room to have a balcony. Remy figured there was a lot about Ben she didn't know, "We'll just go in."

Remy shrugged and followed closely behind Ben as he pushed the door open.

The room looked like one of a college age boy. There was a Bud Light poster over the bed, and on the opposite wall there was a poster of a large breasted women holding a bud light which Remy found herself staring at for slightly longer than necessary. Ben pulled her hand towards a sliding door in the back of the room. Remy began to notice an odd smell.

"Brad," Ben yelled, as he slid open the door. Remy walked through it next and saw Ben's brother. She immediately tried to run back into the room, but Ben's firm grip on her hand made her stay.

Brad stood leaning over the balcony in a pair of boxers holding what looked like a cigarette.

"He walks around in his underwear all the time," Ben shrugged towards Remy, who's cheeks began turning pink. She felt like this was wrong.

"Hey, little man." Brad grinned, his eyes were the same shade of blue as Ben's but they also looked very red.

"And look at you, you never told me Remy was such a stud," Brad ruffled his brother's hair. Remy smiled, if Ben grew up to look like Brad, Remy might actually consider dating him. Remy froze for a moment, not being able to believe her own thoughts.

"Hi," Remy said, awkwardly.

"What are you doing? That smells gross," Ben said, pointing up at Brad's cigarette. Brad seemed lost in thought for a moment.

"You're a man now, bud. This is god's gift to men," Brad smiled, "and women" he looked over at Remy.

Remy's eyes widened. She always thought cigarettes were gross, and she knew Cameron didn't want her smoking them. Although, she had never stated that explicitly.

"Try it," Brad held out the cigarette to Ben. Ben shot Remy a nervous look before taking a quick puff. He handed it back to his brother, lost in a coughing fit.

"That's the beauty of the Mary Jane," Brad said, taking a puff himself. Remy noted that he did it much more sophisticatedly than Ben did. Brad held it out for Remy.

"It's a trip," he said. Remy held it nervously, beginning to understand that this was worse than cigarettes. She remembered slim to none of what was taught in the one assembly her school had this year on drugs and alcohol, but she knew it was illegal.

"You don't have to," Brad said, reaching out a hand. Remy shook her head, and quickly inhaled.

"Sweet!" Brad nodded. Remy gave it back and quickly tried to compose herself from the coughing.

Remy smiled up at him. She felt like what she was doing was wrong, but she didn't feel the familiar sense of guilt. She felt kind of cool, standing on the balcony with a Ben and Brad.

"Another?" Brad said, holding it out towards them. Ben squeezed Remy's hand and nodded.


	17. Chapter 17

Okay, I have some news(ish). I'm going to end this story at chapter 20. Originally I was going to jump another 2 years in age at chapter 20 and keep going, but there's really no ending that way and it would just be one long ramble-y story. I have another story I'm working on (another movie inspiration). I'm not as into it as I am into this, but I'll see what you think. So thanks for your reviews.

PS. I'm so amused/happy that everyone's moving onto twitter! It's my newest obsession. Okay, here goes:

* * *

Remy bit her lip and looked nervously between Brad and Ben. They were sitting on a couch downstairs watching a movie that Remy really wasn't paying attention to. Ben's dad had to leave for a work thing and they were hungry so they had ordered a pizza. Remy's current problem was that the pizza was on the table and she was slouched on the couch.

Getting up seemed like far to arduous of a task for the moment. But, she was hungry. No, she was starving. She would have killed for Chase's brownies at that point.

"Can you hand me that?' Remy asked Ben, pointing to the pizza box.

"Too far," Ben groaned. Brad let out a chuckle.

"Look at you two newbies," Brad said, rubbing at his eyes, "You'll be fine in like an hour. We didn't smoke that much."

"An hour?" Ben groaned, "That's like ten o clock,"

"That's when Cameron gets me," Remy mumbled.

"You'll sober up before then," Brad assured her, but Remy began to panic, "Just be cool, I've never been caught."

Remy nodded, but she wasn't really sure how she felt. She rarely kept secrets from Cameron, but Cameron had told her multiple times that they didn't have to share everything. Remy figured Cameron meant private thoughts, but she didn't think holding this from Cameron would be all that bad. She had never thought about how she would tell Cameron about tonight.

"She'll never know, Rem." Ben patted her thigh. Remy shivered a the touch.

"Okay," Remy said, finally leaning forward with a groan and taking pizza. She guessed this could stay between the three of them. Although, Cameron had a knack for figuring things out.

"Don't be stressed," Brad added, rubbing at his face, "I'm going for round two,"

"Do you want to go join him?" Ben asked, once Brad was out of sight. Remy shook her head, "Didn't like it?"

"I don't know." Remy shrugged. She felt weird, and she knew this should be wrong.

"He's really cool. Now that I'm a man he's showing me cool things." Ben said, beginning to ramble.

"A man?" Remy asked, not really sure what turned a boy into a man. Ben didn't seem like any of the men that she knew. Granted those consisted of her teachers and PPTH workers.

"Remember my Bar Mitzvah over the summer?" Ben asked. Remy nodded, she had to get a dress, and of course she remembered that.

"So, now in my religion I'm a man," He smiled proudly. Remy wondered what would officially make her a woman? She didn't really feel that smoking had transcended her.

"What else has he shown you?" Remy asked, getting intrigued.

"Just advice and secret guy stuff," Ben shrugged.

"Like what?" Remy asked.

"A lot of things, like about girls and school and things," Ben shrugged.

"I don't think girls are all that complicated," Remy shrugged.

"You have no idea." Ben groaned.

"What is this secret man business?" Remy asked.

"It's a secret," Ben smirked. Remy was curious. She wanted to know what Ben thought of girls, and the girls in her class. He clearly didn't think Kate was as amazing as she was. That always confused Remy. She often found her mind drifting to the tall girl from gym, but Ben didn't seem to think twice about her. Even if it was sometimes obvious that she liked him. She had asked him to dance and they were always on the same team in gym. Remy was quite jealous.

"What are you thinking about?" Ben asked, slowly and lazily moving closer to Remy on the couch.

"Nothing," Remy lied, cheeks going pink. She looked over towards Ben to see his face getting close to her. Too close.

His lips touched hers and he leaned back away from her. Remy knew what had just happened, but it had happened to fast for her to really realize it. Her fingers went up to her lips. Nothing felt different, but she couldn't help but to grin.

She didn't know if she particularly liked it. She didn't not like it, but it was just weird. Ben had soft lips, but it was over before she could really feel them.

No one had ever kissed her on the lips before. She knew this was supposed to be some huge defining moment in her life. She still didn't feel anymore like a woman than she had before being dropped off at Ben's house.

Well, maybe that was a lie. She did feel different. Dangerous maybe, definitely older. She had just spent an afternoon with a college boy, smoked, and had a kiss. She wasn't sure how she would be able to keep this all from Cameron. She also wasn't sure if this was the kind of thing that girls told their guardians. She certainly would have never told her mother.

Just thinking about her mother made Remy's body shiver. Her mother was probably screaming in her grave right now. Today, Remy definitely felt like a sinner, but she didn't exactly feel the wrath of god on her. In fact, she felt cool. Today she had done what very few girls (or was it women?) in her grade had done. She officially had something in common with Chelsea. Granted not as many as Chelsea, but one was enough for now.

"Cold?" Ben asked, noticing her shiver. Remy shook her head. She felt a vibration in her pocket, and pulled out her phone.

"Cam's on her way," Remy read, feeling a bit worried.

"Early?" Ben asked.

"Yeah, two and a half hours. She says we have to talk." Remy felt like her stomach was twisting into knots.

"Remy, we're okay," Ben said, trying to calm her.

"She has to know. What else could she want to talk about? I think I'm going to be sick," Remy said, wrapping her arms around her stomach and leaning forward.

"Remy, look at me," Ben commanded. She looked up, "We smoked a while okay. You're totally fine to go home."

Remy nodded, but she was still nervous. It wasn't that she still felt high, she just felt like Cameron would take one look at her and know what was up. Remy felt her chin quiver, but she would not let herself cry right now. She needed to learn to keep her emotions in check.

"Feeling better?" Ben asked.

"Yeah," Remy squeaked out. She jumped as her phone buzzed.

"She's here. I'll see you later." Remy said, still focusing all her energy on not crying. She needed to fix her bad habit of bursting into tears whenever she felt like anything was wrong.

Ben led her to the door and waved goodbye as Remy approached the door. Remy could feel her stomach twisting into knots again. She felt like she was about to be in a lot of trouble.

Taking her time to open the door, Remy reminded herself that Cameron didn't know anything yet. She wasn't still out of it, and hadn't really done that much wrong. After all, Brad did it and he was in college. And, most people kiss, her mother told her it wasn't okay until marriage, but she knew that wasn't right.

"What's wrong?" was the first thing out of Cameron's mouth.

Remy sat down and shut the door, "Nothing" she choked out. Remy noticed Cameron's smile drop as she leaned in towards Remy. Cameron's eyes grew wide.

"You have about twelve seconds to explain what happened inside," Cameron said. Remy could tell she was trying not to scream.

"Can we at least be driving away," Remy said, noticing Brad on the balcony. Their car was in plain sight and she knew she would start to bawl soon, "please"

Cameron took the car out of park and began to drive off.

"Remy, now." Cameron said through gritted teeth. Remy took in a shaky breath. Cameron had looked at her and was able to tell that she was a slut and a druggie.

"How could you tell?" Remy asked. She wasn't going to say it if Cameron already knew. God, her mother was right. Remy was a terrible person.

"Remy I can smell it on you. This isn't okay. You know you're literally destroying your body, right?" Cameron said. Cameron wouldn't look at her, and Remy wasn't sure if it was because she was driving or because she was that angry.

"No," Remy choked out before she finally burst into tears. Here came the guilt.

"I want you to tell me exactly what happened, Remy." Cameron said, pulling up to their house.

"Can we do this inside?" Remy asked. Cameron nodded and got out of the car. Cameron walked quickly inside, and Remy ran up behind her.

"Okay, Remy. I'm trying to understand. I'm trying not to scream. But, I know that you know better than this." Cameron said the moment the door shut behind Remy. Remy backed up against the door. She was terrified.

"I'm not going to hit you, Remy." Cameron said, walking towards the couch. Remy walked forward and sat on the chair next to the couch.

"Even if I deserve it?" Remy asked.

"Have I ever hit you Remy?" Cameron asked. Remy shook her head, "Do you remember how upset I was when you tried to hit Chelsea. That goes for everyone, including me. Hitting is never the answer to any problem."

"Okay," Remy nodded, "Ben's a man now, so his brother has been teaching him things," Remy started. Cameron looked horrified.

"He took me to meet him and he was on the balcony smoking," Remy's voice faltered at the last part. Remy wondered if she had to include that Brad was nearly naked or that he had posters of nearly naked girls.

"What did you do after that Remy?" Cameron asked. Remy noticed she was gripping the edge of the couch, her fingers turning white.

"He asked if we wanted to try it and we did and I'm sorry." Remy said in one breath. Cameron didn't respond, so Remy assumed she knew more had happened. "And then we were downstairs on the couch and-" Remy stopped when she noticed Cameron's jaw open a bit, "and he kissed me, but we didn't do anything else and I knew it was wrong but it was really quick,"

Remy noticed Cameron smile a bit at that last part before her face turned back into a frown.

"For the smoking you've lost your phone for a month," Cameron started. Cameron put her hand out and Remy switched her phone off before handing it over, "You told me Ben's dad would be home and I thought you knew better than to do drugs, so for breaking that trust, I am going to walk you into anyone's house you go to and meet their parents."

"We never talked about drugs," Remy muttered.

"Don't worry, we will." Cameron smirked; Remy brought her eyes back down to her shoes. She wiped the tears from her cheeks. It wasn't that bad so far, "and I'm going to call Ben's parents."

"What?" Remy shrieked.

"They have every right to know what their sons are up to. And, Remy, I really hope that if you're getting yourself into trouble someone has the decency to let me know so I can get you help."

"You can't tell them we kissed. They'll know I'm a slut." Remy mumbled. She tried not to cry again. She went over there sometimes, and she'd never be able to look his parents in the eyes again.

"That is between you and Ben. If Ben wants to tell them, good for him. But, I am glad you told me even if you thought it was because you were in trouble." Cameron almost smiled.

"I'm not in trouble for that?" Remy asked.

"No, you're not." Cameron rubbed her eyes, "I guess there's a lot we need to talk about Remy."


	18. Chapter 18

So, wow. This story is officially my longest story (word count wise). I'm so glad you're all enjoying it. Next one will be up soon, and a lot longer sorry.

* * *

"I think I put too much faith in your school system," Cameron grumbled. Remy heard and knit her eyebrows together in confusion, "First we need to talk about drugs," With that Cameron stood up and began to pace nervously.

"I get it," Remy mumbled. Drugs were bad.

"No, I don't think you do," Cameron said, her voice rising a few notes, "and you have no idea how much that scares me." Cameron took another step back towards Remy, "drugs are literally poisons that make your brain do weird things. Marijuana, what you just smoked, is actually destroying your lungs. You have asthma Remy. The small airways in your lungs contract and it stops you from being able to breath when you're stressed or exercising or even when it's too cold out. You have twice as many reasons as anyone else not to smoke marijuana." Cameron tried to stay on the medical side. She considered letting her know that trying it wasn't exactly strange and she saw THC in blood tests hundreds of times a week, but decided Remy could learn that for herself in college.

"I won't do it again." Remy mumbled, scared by Cameron's tone. Cameron was rarely mad at her, but it seemed to be happening more frequently lately.

"Second, there are other drugs which your school will teach you about when you're older, but they only get worse. Ecstasy dumps all of the serotonin in your brain. Serotonin is what makes you happy, so sure you could imagine it being fun, but can you imagine how long it takes for your brain to store it back up? Anything you inject or snort will destroy your sinus cavity and taint your blood. You will actually be physically hurting your body for the twenty minutes of fun a drug provides. It is never acceptable." Cameron said.

Remy watched her pace, wide eyed, and feeling incredibly guilty.

"Is that it?' Remy asked after a long pause.

"Do you have any questions?" Cameron asked. Remy shook her head.

"Well, that's it for drugs," Cameron took a deep breath, "Next, sex." Remy's cheeks went red, "Ben is not a man. Maybe in his religion, but in physical and brain development, he is a thirteen-year-old boy. His mind is probably on sex all the time. You two kissed, that's great. It means he likes you, but if you don't like him you need to tell him. It's not fair to play with anyone's emotions. If you do like him, go ahead and kiss, if you are kissing someone you truly have feelings for you are not a slut, and Remy you're too good to ever be one."

"What if I don't know?" Remy asked quietly.

"Think about it, or talk with him. It's normal to be confused about relationships. And I'm always here to talk to you if you want. But, if you want to keep things private, that's okay too." Cameron spoke softly this time.

Remy nodded.

"But, keep in mind he is a boy. He is not ready to go any farther, and if he thinks he is. Well, he's wrong. If you have sex before you're married, it's okay. That's your decision and it won't make you a bad person. But, make sure you're in love and you're ready because you are nowhere near ready currently." Cameron sat back down.

Remy nodded.

"And be safe about it," Cameron put her head in her hands. She was feeling more uncomfortable by the second; "Condoms will protect you from pregnancy and a number of diseases that you can get from sex. If you want to be on birth control pills, let me know. I won't freak out. Well, I promise I'll try not to. Being safe is the most important thing."

"I don't want to have sex with Ben," Remy grumbled, hiding her face in her hands.

"Good because you and your body are not ready for it," Cameron smirked.

"Can we talk about this later?" Remy asked.

"We still have one more thing I need to talk to you about." Cameron said, looking much happier about this one.

"What else did I do?" Remy groaned.

"Is there something else I should know about?" Cameron raised an eyebrow.

"House wants me to tell you I'm pregnant." Remy smirked, "It's the only thing he'll text me."

"I'm blocking him from your phone," Cameron said, pulling Remy's phone from her pocket.

"What else did you want to say?" Remy asked, knowing House would find a way around the block.

Cameron checked her watch, "Well, it's too late now," she shrugged, "But I finally have the clearance to legally adopt you."

Remy didn't say anything.

"Maxwell has run out of appeals," Cameron said, hesitantly. She noticed Remy cringe, "and I've passed inspection."

"So?" Remy asked.

"I want to make sure it's what you want." Cameron replied. Remy nodded.

"I mean, if you're okay with it." She said meekly.

"Of course I'm okay with it. Remy, the past year and a half has been really great. You've taught me a lot, tested my patience," Cameron smirked, "and I would really like for us to be family."

"Even after everything I did today?" Remy asked.

"More if anything, Remy. Life is a learning experience, and it's partially my fault for not warning you enough about these things." Cameron said.

"I would love that," Remy said. Remy leaned forward and threw her arms around Cameron. Cameron could tell she was trying not to cry when she pulled away.

"I was going to sign some papers with my lawyer tonight, but I'll do it tomorrow," Cameron smiled, "I was thinking we could have a celebratory dinner this weekend. You could invite Ben or anyone you want."

Remy gave her another hug, "Okay, will House come?"

"I'm sure he will. He loved free food and time corrupting you." Cameron smirked.

"I think we should get him back one of these days," Remy mused.

"He'd see right through you," Cameron shook her head.

"Won't stop me from trying, besides eventually I'll get him." Remy shrugged.

"Good luck, kid." Cameron stood up, "I'm going to call my lawyer."


	19. Chapter 19

"We never talked about what happened at my house," Ben said, bringing up what had been on Remy's mind for the past few days.

"I'm in a lot of trouble, Ben. I didn't want to talk about it." Remy said.

"Me too, Cameron called my mom!" Ben exclaimed.

"It's been almost week and I still don't have a phone, she's pissed, but she's just concerned." Remy shrugged.

"This isn't what I meant," Ben sighed, "I kissed you,"

"I know," Remy muttered.

"Well?" Ben asked.

"We're friends, and it was really special to me, but I don't want to be more than friends." Remy stated honestly, like she had discussed with Cameron and her therapist.

"But, you like me!" Ben's face hardened.

"As a friend." Remy said.

"And I'm a boy," Ben nodded.

"But not a boyfriend." Remy said, watching Ben frown. The bell rang and Remy cursed the school's bad timing.

"I have to go," Ben stalked off. Remy sighed; at least she had science next. She could stare at Kate and not have to think about him.

Remy took her seat and began to drift off.

One of the things that Remy secretly loved most about Kate was that the girl was a mystery. Remy was often told the same thing about herself, but with Kate it was different. Kate rarely spoke up, but had the confidence of a supermodel. And, it certainly didn't hurt that she also looked like one.

Today she wore a white long sleeved shirt and a pair of skinny jeans tucked into combat boots. She was completely covered, head to toe, yet she looked spectacular. Remy couldn't help but stare at her back as her teacher droned on about science.

She let her eyes travel down the waves in Kate's messy ponytail, down her white shirt, a baby pink bra strap peaked out by the shoulder next to a darkened bruise.

Remy nearly fell over in her chair as Kate turned around and stared at her. Had she been caught?

"Got a camera?" Kate asked. Remy cringed, waiting for the 'take a picture it lasts longer line' but it never came.

"It's okay, my sister has one I can borrow." Kate shrugged.

"For what?" Remy asked, realizing she had been completely zoned out of class.

"The nature project." Kate smirked, "have you been paying any attention?"

"Sorry," Remy shrugged. Kate let out a heavenly giggle.

"We need to make some observations about nature and turn them in with pictures. I was thinking we could go to the park by the hospital, if you wander behind the swing sets far enough there's a little stream that runs off from the lake." Kate explained. Remy nodded, not being able to find any words to respond with. How had she gotten so lucky?

"Do you want to go after school? My mom can pick us up and take you to my house. We can grab the camera and walk over to the park it's not far." Kate said, "I want to get this done before the weekend, I'm going to be in New York"

"Yeah, I'll have to call," Remy hesitated awkwardly never really sure of what to call Cameron to others. Cameron wasn't mom, but she couldn't call her Cameron or Allison to people who didn't know her, "my guardian," Remy finally finished. It sounded awkward, but pretty much everyone knew about her mother anyhow. It was old news.

"Refuse to call her mom?" Kate asked.

"I'm adopted," Remy explained, smiling at the fact that she was able to say that now. As of today, she legally belonged to someone who didn't want her dead.

"Oh," Kate said, cheeks going pink in embarrassment, "sorry." Kate brushed a piece of hair behind her ear and Remy noticed another bruise on Kate's arm. The girl was tough.

"Could I borrow your phone?" Remy asked, "Mine was taken away."

"Sure," Kate nodded, pulling a small flip phone from her bag, and discreetly passing it over.

Remy pocketed it just as the bell rang.

"I'll call her in the bathroom's and bring your phone back to you in gym." Remy said.

"Awesome," Kate nodded, "I'll wait back in the locker rooms for you."

"Thanks," Remy smiled, rushing towards the restrooms so she wouldn't be too late for gym.

Remy quickly made the call, and agreed to meet Cameron at the hospital after their project. Then she ran towards the gym.

"Here," Remy burst into the locker room. Kate was wearing her gym shorts and had her gym shirt over her head. Remy froze for a moment, she couldn't help but to notice the little pink bow in the center of Kate's bra or the fresh blue bruise on her hip.

Kate had finished getting her shirt on, and took the phone back, but Remy's mind was elsewhere.

Remy had remembered noticing a bruise on Kate's back a few weeks ago when they played volleyball. Remy didn't know if she was jumping to conclusions, but something seemed off.

* * *

"Not skipping out on me today at three?" House asked noticing the clock behind Cameron's head.

"Remy," Cameron emphasized her name hoping one day house would stop calling her 'brat', "is meeting me here later"

"How is the little trouble maker?" House asked, taking advantage of the fact that he noticed Cameron flipping through a parenting book during her lunch hour.

"Remy is doing well, would you like to come over for dinner Friday and talk to her yourself?" Cameron asked, "You're invited too," she said looking at Foreman and Chase.

"I suppose I could work that into my schedule," House said, looking at his phone, "she wont respond to my texts, or well the same one I keep resending."

"Maybe you've offended her," Cameron said, playing innocent and not letting House know that Remy's phone was currently in Cameron's third dresser drawer.

"It's creepy that you text with a teenager," Foreman piped in, "I'm in though, I love to see House at dinner parties,"

"I'll go," Chase shrugged.

"Well, if you want to come that badly." Cameron joked.

"Sorry," Chase apologized, "late night."

* * *

"Are we lost?" Remy asked, looking around. They were in the middle of the woods area behind the park and every direction looked the same to her.

"I know where we are," Kate said, forging ahead, "My dad and I used to hike back here when I was a kid."

"We are kids," Remy said.

"Younger then," Kate shrugged.

"Did you stop because you kept getting lost?' Remy muttered. Not that she minded being lost with someone like Kate, but she was getting scared and the sun was going down.

"He lives in New York now," Kate said.

"Sorry," Remy said, now it was her turn to feel embarrassed.

"It's fine, he moved like a full year ago. Besides, I have a new dad each month now," she mumbled. Remy picked up a lot of annoyance and a little bit of pain in the statement. Kate stepped over some mud and tripped over a rock.

"Watch the rock," Kate muttered annoyed. Remy reached her good arm out to help her up and noticed the bruise on Kate's forearm again.

"I know it's none of my business, but you're covered in bruises." Remy blurted out.

"I fall a lot," Kate said, motioning towards the rock she had just tripped over.

"Look, pretend I never said anything, but I know what it's like to be hit and think you deserve it, but you don't, no matter what," Remy said. Kate looked awkward and guilty, "I can help you if you ever need anything or want to stay over,"

"My mom's new boyfriend doesn't like me," Kate said, looking like she didn't care.

"You need to tell your mom, she may think she's happy with him. But she obviously doesn't know what kind of man she's with." Remy stated.

"Thanks, but it's my business, okay?" Kate said

"Fine," Remy bit her lip.

"And look, we're back." Kate motioned towards the freshly cut grass leading up towards the park.

"I'm meeting Cameron at the hospital," Remy said.

"I'll walk home, see you tomorrow, okay?" Kate said.

"I'm having kind of a dinner party thing tomorrow if you want to come." Remy threw out, knowing she just made things really awkward.

"Maybe," Kate shrugged walking off. Remy sighed and headed towards the hospital. She really needed to talk to Cameron. She had screwed a million things up today. Well, just two, but two of the best things she had going for herself at school.

* * *

"Why the long face, kid?"

Remy groaned. It was just House in the DDX room. She loved him, but she wanted Cameron to take her home.

"Nothing, House," Remy sighed.

"Teenage angst? Maybe we should graduate you from brat to Thirteen." House rubbed his stubble.

"Where's Cameron?" Remy asked.

"Doing my clinic duty." House smirked, "Care to tell me what you wanted to tell her?"

"I'm pregnant." Remy lied, hoping maybe she could turn House's texts back on him.

"No," House shrugged, but Remy could tell he wasn't certain.

"This is a nightmare," Remy rubbed her temples. She knew House could tell she was genuinely upset, so she left the room deciding to let him figure out if she was serious or not.


	20. Chapter 20

Oh my god, I cannot believe this story is over. It was amazing to write, and I'm said I wont have it around to distract me, but I feel like it wrapped up nicely here. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. I'll have my next distraction up soon.

* * *

Remy sat silently as Cameron began putting food out around their house. She didn't quite know how to tell Cameron that she doubted anyone would be coming tonight. Remy had only invited two friends and she doubted either would come. Ben was seemingly furious with her, and Kate had been avoiding her since Remy brought up her bruises.

Still, Ben knew how much being adopted had meant to Remy, so she hoped he would come to dinner. She knew House would be there along with everyone Cameron worked with, but she would feel humiliated if she couldn't even bring one friend to the table.

"You know I don't know if Ben will be coming," Remy spoke up as Cameron put out chips and a dip that they both knew Ben loved.

"Why wouldn't he come," Cameron came over and ruffled Remy's hair, "Ben loves you."

"Yeah, that's the problem." Remy sighed. She hadn't been able to bring up the fact that she'd crushed him to Cameron yet.

"What do you mean?" Cameron asked, realizing something was up.

"I told him I just wanted to be friends and he got really mad," Remy gulped.

"Don't cry over a boy," Cameron said, bending down to be at Remy's eye level, "He'll come around. He just may need some time."

Remy could tell Cameron felt bad for her, and it made her feel a bit sick.

"Did you invite anyone else?" Cameron asked.

"This girl Kate. I don't think she'll come either." Remy shrugged, "she's going into New York this weekend."

"Oh, well. You don't want House interacting with your friends anyhow." Cameron smiled.

"True," Remy said, running her hands through her hair. She had left it down for their dinner tonight. It made her feel uncomfortable not having it tied up like usual.

"I told House to come at seven, so you might want to get dressed," Cameron said, looking down at her watch.

"Oh, I was going to wear this," Remy laughed, pointing to her PE shorts that she had been too lazy to change out of.

"Well, we wouldn't want to be wearing the same thing." Cameron laughed back.

"Don't let him finish the celery," Remy said, hearing the doorbell and rushing to her room to change.

Remy quickly threw on a short dress and sat down in front of her mirror. Cameron had recently let her buy some make up. She hadn't really been all that into it, but tonight seemed like an appropriate night for some lip-gloss.

Smiling at herself in the mirror, Remy stood up and exited her room. She saw Cameron talking to an older looking man. She wondered if this was someone from the hospital that she had yet to meet.

"Hey,"

Remy spun to the side. Kate stood there in jeans and her classic combat boots with a swollen black eye.

"What happened?" Remy asked, reaching out a hand to touch Kate's face. Kate flinched and Remy had to remind herself that they weren't actually friends.

"I told my mom," Kate said, walking past Remy and into Remy's room. Remy followed behind her.

"I can only stay for a minute. I asked my dad to stop by because I wanted to give you this." Kate said handing Remy a folder.

"Our project?" Remy asked, opening it up to see pictures.

"I'm going to try staying with my dad for a while," Kate explained.

"So you aren't coming back?" Remy asked, feeling her heart speed up a bit.

"I wanted to say thank you," Kate said suddenly, "you were right. It's not my fault, and if she's going to chose him over me then she doesn't deserve me,"

"You're moving in with your dad?" Remy asked, not sure about how she felt.

"Yeah," Kate nodded, swatting some hair away from her eyes, "maybe you can come visit me sometime in New York,"

"Yeah," Remy mumbled. She was glad Kate was getting away from her mom's boyfriend, but sad that just as they were becoming friends she was leaving.

"I should go. I told me dad I wouldn't be long," Kate said motioning towards the door awkwardly, "maybe I'll see you later."

"Yeah, I hope things are better for you," Remy tried to smile. Kate opened the door, and Remy followed to walk her out.

"I like your hair this way," Kate added before pulling Remy into a hug.

"Thanks," Remy hugged back, before they continued into the living room where Cameron, House and Kate's dad sat.

"You ready, sweetheart?" Kate's dad asked. Kate nodded and Cameron and Remy showed them to the door.

"Enjoy New York," Remy said softly, shutting the door behind her.

"What's with your friends and fights?" Cameron asked, once the door was shut.

"There wont be any more hitting," Remy smiled softly as she followed Cameron back into the living room. House had moved the tray of vegetables and dip onto his lap. Remy also noticed an open bottle of wine. She felt like she was intruding for a moment before Cameron's arms wrapped around her waist and pulled Remy onto the couch next to her.

"That was interesting," House remarked, waving a stick of celery in the air.

"Yes?" Remy asked.

"Your friend looked like she was about to cry when she left. Break another heart" House smirked.

"You told him!" Remy squealed, looking towards Cameron.

"I know all about Ben," House smirked, "I go through your phone sometimes when you leave it around."

"I don't leave it around!" Remy sighed.

"All the time, like two weeks ago you just carelessly left it in your jacket pocket, or today in Cameron's sock drawer." House bit into the celery finally.

"You said you were using the bathroom," Cameron groaned.

"You know me better than that," House rolled his eyes, "especially after the brat tried to convince me she was pregnant."

Cameron laughed softly, "and you believed her?"

"No," House shook his head, "just double checking." House scratched his chin, "no tests, no neonatal vitamins, no baby crap."

"I hadn't told Cameron yet," Remy deadpanned. Cameron laughed, and made a face at Remy who cracked a smile.

The doorbell rang and Cameron got up to get the door.

"I'll fake a test if you want to prank her," House whispered.

"I'll pass," Remy crossed her arms. Cameron reappeared with Chase and Foreman.

"House is early!" Chase exclaimed.

"I always show up early when I know Cameron is making food," House said, as if it were obvious.

"Oh, sorry," Foreman joked.

"Speaking of which, where's my Cameron's famous chicken?" House asked. Cameron looked over at Remy. Remy shrugged, she didn't think Ben would be coming.

"We can sit down and eat," Remy said, trying to keep the disappointment from her voice. She had, after all, just changed the life of the girl she had a huge crush on. Granted, she wouldn't be able to stare at her in science anymore, but she knew Kate deserved a better life with her dad. If Cameron had taught her anything, it was how great family could be.

Remy stood up and straightened out her dress before following behind everyone towards the table. She heard a knock and she and Cameron shared a look. Cameron gave her a smile, and Remy went to open the door.

Ben stood there, not quite smiling or frowning, but looking shy. He wore a collared shirt and pair of black pants.

"I'm sorry," He said, stepping in.

"I've missed being your friend," Remy said, pulling him into a hug. He nodded shyly.

"Yeah," he said.

"I'm really glad you came." Remy said.

"Let's go eat," Ben broke the awkwardness.

"Yeah, you can finally meet House," Remy smiled.

"He's here!" Ben nearly shouted, house had become infamous through Remy's stories.

"Oh yeah," Remy said, pulling him towards the table. She knew things were going to go back to normal between them and she felt like a huge weight had come off her shoulders.

"This is Ben," Remy announced to the table. They got a few waves, and 'hello's'.

"Have some wine," House said, passing a glass towards Ben. Cameron intercepted it and handed him a glass of water. He took it and sat down next to Remy.

"Let's toast," House said, raising his nearly empty glass, "to friends."

"-and family," Cameron added, lifting her cup. House downed the rest of his like shot while everyone touched their glasses. Remy clinked hers with Cameron and Ben before taking a sip. Cameron began passing around food, and Remy couldn't help but to grin. This was perfect.


End file.
